The Chance Encounter Reoccurrences
by Kathy2611
Summary: Sheldon keeps encountering a woman he knew briefly in his past. He just can't remember from where at first. But once he does remember who she is, will his past come back to destroy his renewed relationship with her? AU, (Sheldon, Amy) (Leonard, Penny)
1. Chapter 1

**The Chance Encounter Reoccurrences**

Sheldon keeps encountering a woman he knew briefly in his past. He just can't remember from where at first. But once he does remember who she is, will his past come back to destroy his renewed relationship with her? AU, (Sheldon, Amy) (Leonard, Penny)

**Chapter 1**

Sheldon subscribes to the many worlds theory which posits the existence of an infinite number of Sheldon's in an infinite number of universes. This is just one of them…

**Universe #4,583,668 – October 2009**

Penny was in a good mood for being up so early in the morning. Maybe it was the great sex she had just had the night before that put her in this mood. 'Yeah,' she smiled to herself, 'that was definitely it.' She inhaled the aroma of her boyfriend from his dress shirt she was wearing that he had worn just hours earlier on their date. She loved the smell of his cologne, aftershave and him all mixed into one intoxicating scent.

She whisked the egg mixture in the bowl, flipping on the radio and her smile grew when she heard Shania Twain singing. She unconsciously began to dance and sing as she started the first batch of French toast.

"I'm goin' out tonight. I'm feelin' alright. Gonna let it all hang out."

She turns and places the two pieces of bread in the skillet and turns back to the egg mixture, continuing to dance and sing. She turns and sees her boyfriend's roommate, Dr. Wackadoodle.

She smiles and greets him.

"Morning Sheldon. Come dance with me." She says, biting her bottom lip flirtatiously and swinging her hips to the music.

"No." He states quietly.

"Why not?" Penny asks.

"Penny" Sheldon begins as he turns the radio off. "While I subscribe to the many worlds theory which posits the existence of an infinite number of Sheldon's in an infinite number of universes, I assure you that in none of them am I dancing."

**Universe #7,839,374 – August 2013**

Penny inhales the faint aroma of her husband's cologne and aftershave on his dress shirt she's wearing over one of her tank tops. She smiles as she remembers the incredible sex… "No…" she shakes her head a little. She can't get distracted. "There's too much to do today." She reminds herself.

Penny pours the oatmeal in the pot of boiling water and begins to stir as she swings her hips to the music coming from the radio. She begins to sing with the artist coming from the speakers.

"I'm goin' out tonight. I'm feelin' alright. Gonna let it all hang out."

She sees Sheldon coming around the corner from the bathroom, dressed in a pair of green and blue plaid pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt. She smiles at him.

"Morning Sheldon. Come dance with me." She says, biting her bottom lip flirtatiously and swinging her hips to the music.

Sheldon sighs, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah! Dance with Mommy!" The two boys chime in unison from the kitchen island.

Sheldon smiles at the nearly 4-year old twin boys and reaches out to tousle the dark hair of the twin sitting closer to the refrigerator, looking so much like his father but with his mother's green eyes.

He reaches for the blond woman, pulling her into his arms and starts to dance with her in the kitchen while the two boys cheer. The couple smile as the two boys continue to cheer them on while they dance. The timer on the oven goes off less than a minute later and they separate. Penny takes the pot of oatmeal off the stove as Sheldon goes to sit at the kitchen island across from the twin who is the male version of his mother with blond hair and green eyes.

Penny places two bowls of oatmeal in front of her sons, smiling at each one.

"There you go guys. Plain just the way you like it."

Sheldon wrinkles his nose and looks at the oatmeal in disgust. Where the hell was his French toast? "I thought you were going to make French toast." He asks her confused.

Penny looks at him with annoyance. "It's oatmeal day."

Sheldon sighs, grabbing a spoon and digging into the oatmeal Penny had just placed in front of him. She goes to sit next to him at the kitchen island, digging into her own oatmeal.

"Hey guys, guess what?" Sheldon smiled at the boys. "I got an email from your dad last night and he's…. Ouch!"

He turns to look angrily at Penny and sees she's glaring at him. She was so damn moody sometimes. One minute, dancing and singing and the next looking pissed off and kicking him in the leg.

Instantly the boys start to cheer excitedly. "Yah! Daddy's coming home! Daddy's coming home!"

"No, Daddy's not coming home yet. Uncle Sheldon was about to say that Daddy's doing really exciting work for Mr. Hawkins and…"

"Hawking." Sheldon corrected her. Why couldn't she get anything right?

Penny stops and slightly glares at him.

"Whatever. Daddy's been having fun on this project and he's doing really good and might get some extra gifts to bring home in a couple months." Penny said smiling sweetly to her boys and giving Sheldon a stern look.

"Yah!" They both cheered excitedly.

"Now hurry up and finish your oatmeal and go get dressed. We have a busy day today." Penny said, taking another bite of her own oatmeal.

The two boys ate hurriedly, one drinking out of his bowl causing his mother to frown at him.

"Elliot." She said sternly.

"All done!" The dark-haired boy exclaimed excitedly, ignoring his mothers stern use of his name and ran off to his room, his blond twin following close behind.

"Wait for me Elliot!" The blond twin cried excitedly, chasing after his brother.

Sheldon dropped his spoon next to his bowl, turned to Penny and glared at her.

"Would you like to explain yourself before I kick you back or should I just kick you back now?"

Penny sighed heavily and slid off her stool and away from Sheldon before he started kicking her. Grabbing her bowl and the two her sons had left empty on the kitchen island, she started moving to the sink to clean up the breakfast dishes.

"Leonard and I want to surprise the boys for their birthday in a couple of weeks. We want them to still think he's not going to make it back in time for their party. He's going to get a room at a hotel when he gets back so we can have some alone time for a couple of days before the boys' party that Saturday. Which is why you need to stay here with them during that time."

"Oh, I see." Sheldon said as he got up from the stool and handed his bowl to Penny to wash. "And what excuse are you going to give them for why you're going to be away from home for those few days?" He asked.

Penny placed the bowl in the drain and looked at him with a grin. "A commercial shoot out of town. I do it all the time. Just this time it's not true. But it's for their benefit so it's what I call a good lie." She grins up at him.

He looks down at her with a blank expression on his face and kicks her back. "Now we're even."

He turns to head towards the front door to go across the hall to his own apartment and stops in the middle of the room. He turns to look at Penny with a confused look on his face. "Why aren't you leaving them with Mrs. Gunderson? She usually watches them when you and Leonard are out of town at the same time."

Penny stood by the kitchen island, her hand on the table holding her weight while the other was rubbing the leg that had just been kicked. "Do you ever listen to me when I talk to you about the latest gossip?"

"No. It's mostly boring chit chat so why bother?" He asked crossing his arms and staring at her blankly.

Penny rolled her eyes, walking into the living room and started picking up the scattered toys. "Mrs. Gunderson moved to Oregon a few months ago to take care of her daughter. Remember, the one that had the stroke?"

"Ahhh…yes now I remember." Sheldon said not noticing the blond had moved closer to him. "But again, chit chat and gossip about things I care nothing about."

"Well…you might be interested in who has moved into Mrs. Gunderson's old apartment. She's pretty cute, brown hair, green eyes, a Brainiac like you and your fellow nerds." She teased, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Her name is Amy and she's…"

Sheldon sighed heavily, interrupting her. "Penny, I don't want to be set up with one of your friends again and…OUCH!" He yelled the last word painfully and started rubbing his leg that had just been kicked. While still bending over he raised his head and glared back up at Penny.

Penny was about to jump out of his reach but she wasn't fast enough. Sheldon had reached out and grabbed her arm tightly and began kicking at her legs. She squealed painfully in response, grabbed his arm and began kicking at his legs in return.

"Here we go." Elliot said as he plopped down on the cream-colored chair to wait for his mother and their neighbor to stop kicking each other.

"Can we call Uncle Randall or Aunt Missy." The blond boy asked.

"Yeah, I'm with Christian. I say we call Aunt Missy." Elliot replied. He turned to look at his twin. "She sends us better gifts. Uncle Randall just sends us plastic farm animals and those stopped being fun last year."

Christian nodded his head in agreement.

"Missy isn't your Aunt." Their mother gritted out in pain, plopping down on the brown leather sofa and began to rub her legs. The adults had let go of each other's arms when they realized the boys had walked back in the room.

The boys looked confused.

"But Uncle Sheldon's not really our uncle and you and daddy always refer to him as Uncle Sheldon." Elliot stated. Christian stood by the chair his brother sat in, staring at their mother with the same expression as his twin. "Why do we have to call daddy's friends 'Uncle' but not their siblings?" Elliot asked.

"I'm sure Priya would love to be addressed in the same manner as my sister. Don't you agree Penny?" Sheldon asked her with a Cheshire grin on his face that matched the one she had earlier.

Penny turned and glared at Sheldon again. Priya, Raj's sister, was a sore topic of discussion for her. Raj's sister had succeeded in coming between her and Leonard a couple of times before Penny had gotten pregnant with the boys.

"You guys want to tell Uncle Sheldon about our new neighbor, Miss Amy?" Penny asked with a grin directed towards Sheldon, deciding to change the subject. Priya was the last thing she wanted to discuss. Especially with her children around.

Sheldon rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Miss Amy has a Paddington Bear just like mine." Christian quietly said with excitement. He was grinning from ear to ear.

"Christian actually talked to her!" Elliot said excitedly with an approving nod.

Sheldon looked at Penny with surprise. Christian was extremely shy and never spoke to strangers. He barely talked to anyone inside their social group that he had known in his short life. So, it was rather shocking to hear that he actually greeted someone that he had never met before.

"Are you bringing anyone to the birthday party?" Penny asked Sheldon, raising her eyebrows questioningly. She had met only a handful of the girls he had gone out with over the years but was never sure if any of them were serious. He never spoke to her about any of the girls he dated. She had run into a couple of them early in the morning as they left his apartment but that was about it.

"Why would I bring someone to their party?" Sheldon asked her, a bit confused. "Christian would practically hide from any stranger he saw, and Elliot would talk to them until it was time to leave." He said exasperated.

Penny grinned again. "Good! Amy will be there. You can meet her then. Unless, I can get you to meet her sooner." She teased, turning away. "I'm going to get a quick shower and get ready guys. We'll leave when I get done." She said turning the TV to one of their shows they had recorded. "See you later Sheldon." She said over her shoulder as she went down the hall.

"Ok…" Sheldon began as he sat on the arm of the couch. "Why does mom think this Miss Amy is a good match for me? What's special about her?"

"She has a Paddington Bear." Christian said with a big smile.

Sheldon smiled back at him. "Yeah, I got that. What else?"

Christian thought a moment. "Her hair looks like the chocolate machine at the buffet place. It's wavy and long like mommy's but it's the same color as chocolate sauce."

"She's got green eyes but not green like mommy's." Elliot added. "They look different. And mommy says she has an Uncle Sheldon approved butt."

Sheldon had to look down quickly and bite his bottom lip to keep from laughing out loud. "I see." He finally said, looking up at the boys. "Anything else about her I should know?"

"Mommy says she's smart like you and daddy." Elliot answered.

"And how does mommy know this?" Sheldon asked.

"Her job is at a place like yours and daddy's but its called a bunch of letters." Elliot stated, starting to pick up his toys from the coffee table and putting them in the toy box behind it.

"UCLA?" Sheldon offered.

"Yeah!" Both boys chimed together.

"Guys! Get your shoes on. We're leaving in 5 minutes." Penny called from the hall.

"Ok guys. I'll see you later." Sheldon said walking to the door. "Have fun picking out your party stuff today."

Sheldon walked back to what used to be Penny's apartment. He opened the door and sat down on the gray love seat where a teal one once sat. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and scrolled through his list of contacts and slowly started looking through them and deleting some he no longer needed.

He couldn't figure out why Penny insisted on setting him up with people she knew. Was she worried he wouldn't find anyone on his own? He was able to find plenty of girls on his own. Granted sometimes he was out with Barry Kripke or Raj when he found them but he always seemed to lose interest in them after a few months.

He wasn't quite sure what the reasons were. Sometimes he did. With Penny's friends, they simply weren't compatible enough intellectually. They would complain to Penny that he was rigid and not into sex. How little they knew. He was definitely into sex. But a woman's intelligence was way more of a turn on to him than her body or her looks. And unfortunately, none of Penny's friends were intelligent enough for him.

Sometimes the girls he did find interesting enough to sleep with were not compatible in other areas. One was all work and no play. As much as he loved science and work, he also liked comic books, movies, TV, hanging out with his friends, or simply sitting at home and reading a good book.

Another girl, a grad student, became way too clingy, jealous and obsessive with him. She didn't like him talking to any other girl, no matter who it was. Not even Penny and Bernadette. Another girl was too rude and condescending. Another was convinced she was smarter than the rest of the world. Another was absolutely boring in the bedroom and would only have sex in the missionary position.

Not that he didn't like that position but he liked variety. And, not that he bragged about it to anyone, but he was rather kinky in the bedroom and liked to dominate. He liked a lot of different things in the bedroom.

He smiled to himself, remembering what Elliot had said about Amy's butt. It got him curious. He wondered just how intelligent she was. Definitely his type if she worked at UCLA. He hated to admit it but he was intrigued. But he also didn't want to be set up by Penny yet again. All of the girls she had set him up with had been a failure. Well, not all of them. But all of them had not ended up being relationship material. And a relationship was what he was now interested in pursuing.

He had long tired of the short-term flings and one-night stands that he found with Kripke and Raj. He was getting older and he was ready to settle down with someone. But that someone had to be compatible enough to keep him interested for the long haul. He wondered if this Amy person that had just moved in downstairs fit the bill. He was willing to meet her but not on Penny's terms. With both of them living in the same building, he'd meet her eventually.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – The Chance Encounter Reoccurrences**

Amy was gathering her belongings and placing them in her bag, a smile on her face. So far, her move back to California was a successful one. Her assignment at UCLA was nearly complete before she was to transfer over to Caltech for another assignment.

She had gotten a grant to work with monkeys at Caltech several months ago which was to start in a couple of weeks. But her move to California was earlier than she had planned because she was asked to step in for one of the researchers to finish up on a project at UCLA

As a result, she had to scramble to find an apartment and was able to snatch one up on Los Robles Avenue. It was a 2 bedroom, but she was ok with that. It would make it possible for her dad to stay with her instead of getting a hotel room or staying with one of her aunts during his visits to California.

She had even met a few of her new neighbors at Los Robles.

There was Micki and Tony on the 5th floor. They were both of Italian descent. Micki owned the bar a couple of blocks from the apartment and her boyfriend, Tony, worked as a bouncer at another bar not too far from the one Micki owned.

Mrs. Grossinger in 2A and her hairless Mexican dog that wouldn't stop barking at anyone it saw. Amy didn't really care for the dog, but Mrs. Grossinger was sweet as could be, reminding Amy of the typical little old lady types.

And last, there was Penny Hofstadter and her twin boys, Elliot and Christian. She smiled at the memory of her first encounter with the mother and her cute little boys…

_Amy struggled to open the lobby door while holding the last box she had taken out of her car. She saw that the elevator doors were open and grunted, trying to rush to the opening, hoping she could kick her leg out to trigger the doors to reopen if they were to start closing. A blond woman and two little boys, one with dark hair and the other blond like the woman, had just walked into the elevator, the woman looking up from her mail that she had received._

"_Guys, hold the door for her!" The blond woman smiled, holding her arm out to keep the elevator doors from closing before Amy could get in. "Hi! Just moving in?" She greeted Amy with a bright smile. Two small arms stretched out along with their mothers to hold the elevator doors open._

"_Yeah." Amy replied, setting the heavy box down on the floor of the elevator. This last box contained her most treasured items. Photos, school mementos, etc. _

"_Welcome to the building!" The blond woman stated warmly. "I'm Penny Hofstadter. This is Elliot." Penny said, placing a hand on the dark-haired boy. "And this is Christian." She said, placing her other hand with the mail on the blond head of the boy who couldn't take his eyes off the bear sitting on the top of the box Amy had sat down._

"_Hi! I'm Amy Fowler." She said holding out her hand and shaking Penny's warmly._

"_My husband is out of town for another couple of months but I'm sure you'll meet him eventually." Penny said. "Are you from here or another state? I originally came from Nebraska and Leonard, that's my husband, is from New Jersey."_

"_I was born here in California, but my father raised me in Boston from the time I was a toddler." Amy said, smiling down at the two boys who looked to be about that age when she last lived in California._

"_You have a Paddington Bear." A soft quiet voice said._

_Penny and Elliot looked at Christian, seeming surprised that he had spoken._

_Amy stooped down at eye level and took her bear out of the box and held it in her arms. "My mom got me this bear before she passed away. I was little, about 2 years old, when she died. He's one of my favorite things I own." Amy said, with a little sadness in her voice. She smiled at the toddler. "Do you like Paddington too?"_

_The little boy smiled at her, nodding his head in the affirmative._

"_Do you want to come to our Birthday party? We're turning 4 years old." Elliot said excitedly holding up four little fingers. "Can she come to our party mom?" He asked, looking up at Penny. His twin looked up with a smile, nodding his head in agreement._

"_Sure." Penny said. "It's your party. You can invite whoever you want." She continued, smiling towards Amy._

"Dr. Fowler." A voice came from the doorway of her lab, startling Amy from her memories. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." The woman said from the doorway. Her shoulder length blond hair bounced slightly as she entered the room and she reached up to straighten her black headband that matched her black skirt and pink blouse under her lab coat.

"Oh, that's ok Lisa. I was just reminiscing a little." Amy said, smiling.

"I just wanted to stop by and let you know how much I enjoyed having you on this project. It was a lot of fun having you on the team." Lisa said, smiling at Amy.

"Oh, thank you! I actually wish it wasn't ending so soon but maybe we can work on something again." Amy said reaching out to hug the slightly taller woman.

"I'd love that!" Lisa said, returning the hug.

They both turned towards the door upon hearing a man clearing his throat. He leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed smiling at the two women but smiling at one in particular.

He wasn't too tall but taller than the two women in the lab. His light blond hair slicked back made his hair look darker and wet and Amy couldn't imagine any woman wanting to run their hands through that. She grimaced slightly just thinking of it. His blue eyes shown through the wire rimmed glasses that seemed small for his pale face.

"I hope I can get one of those hugs before you leave." The man stated with a smirk as he walked into the lab. Lisa beamed at him with a bright smile, but he continued to look at Amy.

"Of course, Owen." Lisa said enthusiastically and practically bounced over to him but stopped short when Owen held his hand up to stop her.

"I was actually talking to Dr. Fowler. She's the one leaving." He stated, glaring down at the bubbly blond and smiling again as he looked at Amy. "And I'm still waiting for you to accept my dinner invitation."

Amy opened her mouth to say something, but Owen held his hand up again. "Just the two of us. We have a lot of catching up to do." He continued with a knowing grin.

Lisa shyly excused herself and silently walked out the door. Amy watched her go, feeling bad for the young girl that had a crush on the blond man. She turned to gather up the rest of her stuff and jumped when Owen spoke again, directly behind her.

"You know I'm not going to take no for an answer, so you might as well accept.," He whispered in her ear, pressing his body against her.

Amy fought the urge to jump away in disgust. Instead she turned to face him and stepped forward, forcing him to take a step back, giving them space. "Owen, we already caught up over coffee when you first realized I moved here a few weeks ago. Since then, I've been extremely busy and I'm wanting to be prepared for my next assignment." She stated with as much patience as she could muster.

She turned away from him and continued to gather up her stuff, placing them in her bag. Amy had first met Owen when they were both teenagers studying in Germany. He looked pretty much the same other than his hair was no longer shaggy looking and hanging in his eyes and he wasn't as skinny as he was as a kid. Amy would almost bet that he even had the same frames, but she didn't want to get close enough to see. According to Owen, Amy had changed significantly. Her hair was no longer straight, and the sides clipped in the back. Her glasses were replaced with contacts, the braces had straightened out her teeth and she was curvier.

"And we were supposed to meet up for dinner but somehow I ended up having dinner with Lisa." Owen said with annoyance. "How exactly did that happen?" He asked moving to stand directly behind Amy again. He reached up and softly ran his fingers through a strand of her soft wavy brunette hair.

Amy fought the urge to punch him in the face and stepped forward again to regain her space. "Owen, I already told you. My apartment had a plumping problem and I had to stick around until it was fixed. And since then, I haven't had time."

"And Lisa?" He asked. "How did she end up there instead of you?"

Amy shrugged her shoulders. "I didn't think it was a big deal. Just a few colleagues going out for a bite to eat." She lied. To be honest, she hadn't wanted to have dinner alone with him and thought it would be a good idea to have some company with her during the dinner. It would also give her the excuse to leave with Lisa instead of having to make excuses of doing any activity he thought of after dinner.

"Well," Owen began as he walked up to Amy once again. "I'm not going to take no for an answer. What's it going to hurt to grab a bite to eat between old college friends? I promise I won't bite." He said, with a grin. "Unless you want me to." He whispered in her ear.

Amy turned around and glared at him, crossing her arms.

Owen backed away, holding his hands up in defense. "Okay. Okay. I'm sorry I keep pressing. It's just been exciting to have you back in my life again. Maybe this time, we can see if anything more can develop between us other than friendship."

Amy turned away, rolling her eyes. They were never friends in college. He was just someone in one of her classes that had a crush on her and followed her around whenever he saw her. But as an adult, Amy was finding him downright creepy. Amy couldn't imagine why Lisa had a crush on him, considering all the other guys at UCLA she had come across.

"Just promise you'll take me up on my offer. On that, I won't back down. It's just dinner. I can pick you up from your new job…will it be here or some other college around…. or I can pick you up at your apartment?'

"I'll meet you at the restaurant. You pick the place." Amy said grabbing her bag to leave. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm late for an appointment." Amy lied, rushing out the door.

Amy drove quickly to Caltech to get a quick layout of where she would be working soon. If, or more likely, when, Owen discovered where she'd be working, she wanted to be familiar with the layout for quick escapes. But she also was genuinely curious of her new lab as well.

Two hours later, Amy sat in her car, picking her route back home carefully. She had driven up to the exit of the parking lot of another department, hoping Owen hadn't decided to drive around looking for her car. She had seen him doing that once and had decided to start parking in other departments other than the one she would be working at. She wasn't sure if he had figured out she would be working at Caltech, but she didn't want to take a chance of him finding her either way.

She sighed heavily at feeling the need to avoid his stalking behavior, but she didn't want to be caught alone with him any more than need be. She glanced at her rear-view mirror and saw that there was still no one behind her waiting to pull out. She still had time to study her map a little more.

After a few moments, she glanced around to check her surroundings and back down at her phone. She jumped when she heard a car horn and looked in her rear-view mirror. A black car had pulled up behind her silver one. A man with short dark hair and sunglasses motioned for her to go. Amy put her phone down on the seat beside her and let her foot off the brake enough to allow her car to roll forward a few inches and then stopped again. She looked both ways to make sure all was clear before pulling out on to the intersection, maneuvering the car to the right but at the last minute decided it was the other direction she wanted to go and stopped again.

She unexpectedly lurched forward from the rear impact and looked up in surprise. She put the car in park before getting out to inspect the rear of her car for any damages and to give the idiot driver behind her a few choice words about his lack of driving abilities.

By the time she got to the rear of the car, the man in the car behind her was standing at the front of his car, studying the impact, his hands on his hips. When Amy approached, he glared down at her.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You had a clear chance to go!" He yelled at her, swinging his arm out to indicate the road. "Why the hell did you stop?"

Amy's anger rose, and she looked up, noticing just how tall the man was. She only came eye level to his chest and had to look up at him. He was dressed in tan pants and a light blue button down striped shirt. His dark brown hair was cut short and combed casually to the side.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She demanded, crossing her arms and glaring up at him. "Don't you know you're not supposed to move forward until the car in front of you has actually moved out of the way? Or are you blind and not actually supposed to be driving?" She asked sarcastically.

He reached up and tore his sunglasses off, revealing bright blue eyes under thick arched eye brows. He glared down at her with such intensity, Amy's stomach flipped. There was something about his eyes, but Amy couldn't put her finger on it. And she was still angry.

"Maybe the better question is, are you lost little girl? Can't decide which direction you need to get home to mommy and daddy?"

Amy stepped forward, not letting his height intimidate her. "I happen to be a well-respected neurobiologist in my early 30's. I don't need to go home to mommy and daddy." She said grinning at the slight shift in his eyes. Something she said had caught him off guard. "Maybe you're the one that needs to go home to mommy and daddy, so they can teach you how to drive."

The man stood up straighter and crossed his arms, smirking. "I happen to be a well respected physicist who is also in my early 30's and I'm perfectly capable of driving as long as people in front of me don't stop for no good reason."

Amy tilted her head to the side and grinned sarcastically. "Well then maybe you should start paying attention because if you weren't so close to my rear end, you could've kept from smacking it." She turned around to walk back to her car, realizing what she had just said and how it sounded, wanting to get away before the man saw her face turning red with embarrassment.

"Are you leaving the scene of an accident?" The man called after her.

"What accident? There's no damage to either of our cars so what more is there to discuss?" She said over her shoulder.

Sheldon looked down at the front of his car and glanced at the rear of hers and saw she was right. There wasn't any damage other than a very small scratch to her car. Before he could say anymore, she had gotten in her car and drove out onto the road and on her way to wherever it was she was going.

Sheldon got back into his car and pulled out onto the road to head home, thinking of what the woman had said before she had turned suddenly and walked off. He couldn't help but grin at her words and wondered if she realized how it sounded. He couldn't help but glance down at her ass as she had walked away.

"I would've much rather smacked that one than the one to her car." He said to himself.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – The Chance Encounter Reoccurrences**

Sheldon's drive home took him twice as long because of his earlier delay with the woman in the parking lot and another accident he had driven past that was far worse than the extremely minor fender bender he was previously involved in. By the time he rode the slow elevator to the 4th floor, he needed an ice-cold beer.

After spending 15 minutes in his small 1 bedroom apartment changing into a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt with a melting Rubik's cube on it, he walked out the door and almost knocked Elliot on his butt, but instead, Sheldon grabbed him before the young boy completed his fall and tossed him up in the air, smiling when he heard the toddler giggling.

"Does your mom know you're out here?" Sheldon asked.

"Yep." Elliot answered. "Are you going to eat dinner with us and Miss Amy? Mom said there's plenty and she made your favorite."

Sheldon glanced into the apartment across the hall from his own. He carried Elliot into the open doorway and sat him down by the couch and continued walking towards the kitchen where Penny was making a salad at the island. She glanced up and smiled at her neighbor.

"Hey, want to join us for dinner? We got plenty." She said.

Sheldon looked at her suspiciously. "Why do I get the impression this was a set up for me to meet our new neighbor?" He asked, crossing his arms and looking at the blond questioningly.

Penny glanced up with a sheepish grin on her face. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Sheldon sat on the stool facing the kitchen and sighed heavily. "Penny. I already told you…" He began.

"Oh, come on!" Penny interrupted him. "You said yourself you're tired of one-night stands and relationships that don't work out because you get bored with them and…"

"I told Leonard that in confidence!" Sheldon said, raising his voice a little, feeling annoyed that his best friend would blab about his most private parts of his life to Penny, the one person out of everyone in their small group that couldn't keep a secret to save her life. "And I only get bored with them because there needs to be a balance in our shared and unshared interest. Especially in the bed…|"

"Ahhh tat tat tat tat!" Penny suddenly held her hand up to stop him from speaking. "TMI and little ears." She said glancing to the couch where the twins were playing. "And Leonard, thank God, doesn't tell me every little thing you tell him. I heard enough when you still lived here."

Sheldon gave her a blank look. "Let's call it payback for the times I had to hear you and Leonard."

"And we fixed that problem by swapping apartments." Penny said, turning to put the knife she was using into the sink.

Sheldon looked at her with annoyance. "We swapped apartments because you got pregnant with the twins and I was generous enough to actually swap instead of making you and Leonard find another place."

Penny looked back at him with annoyance of her own. "Yeah keep telling yourself that. We all know you couldn't live without your best friend close by. Besides, Amy is different. She's not like the girls me and Bernie set you up with or the ones you find when you're out with Raj and that Barry guy you go out with sometimes. She's a brainy type like you. Works at UCLA."

"I've had brainy types!" Sheldon said defensively. "That's the only kind I actually find interesting and worth my time. The girls I find with Raj and Barry are usually grad students but they're still the brainy type."

"Yeah, you made that insultingly clear the first time we met." Penny said eyeing him angrily.

Sheldon gave her an exasperated look. "Oh please! You and Leonard were into each other before anybody knew what the hell happened! You didn't give a shit what I thought anyway."

"Not once you opened your mouth and showed what an arrogant ass you can be." Penny answered. "Ok guys. Dinner's ready." She called out to the boys. "dinner before your beer. Yes or no?" she asked, looking at Sheldon while fixing a plate for one of the boys.

Sheldon looked over to the stove and inhaled the aromas surrounding the room. "Fix me a plate and stick it in my refrigerator please." He said getting up off the stool and helping Christian up on it. "I'll heat it up when I get home from Micki's. I had a sh…" he glanced down at the blond head, looking nervously up at his mother who was giving him a stern look. "…a bad day."

Penny's look softened. "Oh, I'm sorry. Apparently so did Amy. She had to deal with a creep at work and then got rear ended in the parking lot."

Sheldon looked at her for a moment, saying nothing. He stared at her for a few more moments. "Where does she work at again? UCLA?" He asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

Sheldon shook his head, dismissing his thoughts. "Never mind. Doesn't matter. Sheldon turned to walk to the door.

"Tell Micki I said Hi." Penny called after him before he shut the door.

XXXXXXX

Sheldon walked into the bar and nodded at the woman handing a beer to a couple sitting at the bar. The woman smiled and gave a short wave before wiping her hand on her red t-shirt. "Hey handsome. Want your usual?" She asked.

Sheldon smiled at the petite woman with short black hair. "Hey Micki. Yeah, I'll take a cold one and throw in some wings for me. Baked twice." He added. He pulled up a stool at the end of the bar with the beer Micki handed him and started munching on some peanuts and listening to the news on the TV perched on the wall to the left of him.

After 20 minutes, Micki brought him out an order of wings and another beer. He turned to survey the bar. It was Monday night and one of the slowest nights the bar had during the week. There was only a couple sitting at the bar a few stools down from where Sheldon was sitting and only two tables with patrons sitting at them. "Slow night?" he asked Micki as she came to clean down the counter.

"It's always slow on Monday night. Except during football season." She said. "How come you're not having dinner with the new neighbor?"

Sheldon looked at her with surprise even though he shouldn't have been. "Jesus, that woman has got the biggest damn mouth! Does the whole building know she's trying to set me up with the new neighbor?" He asked in frustration, raising the first wing to his mouth before stopping. "Who I haven't even met yet, by the way." He added angrily, taking a bite into the wing.

Micki laughed good naturally. "Come on, you know how Penny is. She's always playing matchmaker with anybody she knows is single. How many times did she try to set us up before I told her WHY you weren't my type?"

Sheldon laughed. "Yeah, then she tried to set you up with every gay girl she knew."

Micki laughed with him. "Yeah but she found Tony for me, so she is good! It's not her fault she didn't take the hint that I wanted another Italian. You just have to give her specifics of what you like, and she does the rest. And who among the couples she's set up, is no longer together?" She asked, raising her eye brows questioningly.

Sheldon looked at her blankly. "Me and Susan. Me and Rachel. Me and Brianna. Me and…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…you're picky as hell with who you want. We get it." Micki sighed, shaking her head. "But none of those girls were geniuses like you and Leonard and the other guys you hang out with."

"Well, I promised I'd meet the new neighbor at the boys' birthday party so eventually I'll meet her and get it over with." Sheldon said swallowing down some more of his first beer. "Now I'm going to eat my wings, finish my beer and head home and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day."

Micki shrugged her shoulders and walked away. "Good luck." She said over her shoulders.

"Penny says Hi by the way."

"Tell her I said Hi back."

As Sheldon was finishing his wings, he saw a guy with slicked back hair and wire rimmed glasses walk in. The man stood in the doorway for a moment looking around and stopped when he saw Sheldon. Sheldon went back to his last wing, taking his time eating it. He placed the bones down on the plate, grabbed the wet wipe and cleaned off his fingers, putting the used wipe on the plate of bones and looked up at the doorway again but the man who had been standing there was now standing next to him.

"Sheldon?" the man asked. "Sheldon Cooper?"

Sheldon looked at him for a moment and then suddenly realized who the man was.

He stood up with surprise and smiled widely, grabbing the mans hand and started shaking it. "Holy shit! Owen Bates! How the hell have you been, man? Come sit down and have a beer with me! Micki! Two more please!" He called out, holding up his beer bottle, a large smile on his face for his old friend.

Sheldon sat back down on his stool and motioned for Owen to sit down on the stool next to him. "Hey Sheldon. Long time no see. I didn't realize you lived out here. I thought you lived in Texas." Owen said, looking around the bar. "Are you here alone or with someone?"

Sheldon looked at him questioningly for a moment. "Oh, no man. Don't worry about it. I'm not on a date or anything. I live just a few blocks from here. Had a shitty day and decided to stop in for a few cold ones and some wings." He said, motioning to his plate full of bones from the wings he had eaten.

"And I'm from Texas but I've been out here for…oh, going on 13 years now." Sheldon said. "I'm a theoretical physicist at Caltech. What about you? What are you doing out here?" Sheldon fired off with a smile.

Micki came up and placed two more beers on the counter and walked away just as quickly. Owen grabbed one, opening it up and took a drink.

"Well, after I left Germany I went back home to Maine for a few years and then finally got my doctorate at Yale and now I'm a research scientist at UCLA." Owen stated, forcing a smile.

He took another long drink of his beer and looked at Sheldon, studying him. Sheldon sat and smiled, sipping on his own beer. "So, what about you Sheldon? Did you ever marry that girl from Germany you stole from me?"

Sheldon's smile dropped, and he looked stunned. "What girl did I steal from you?"

Owen turned away and started pulling the label off his beer bottle. Sheldon waited for him to answer. Owen finally looked back at him with a pained look on his face. "You don't remember a bunch of people walking in on you and that girl in bed together? It was at the party a week before finals. She was the brunette girl I had a crush on. I pointed her out to you on several occasions."

Sheldon took a deep breath and let it out. Apparently, his old friend was still holding a grudge about that incident from years ago.

"Owen," Sheldon began. "I explained this to you already after it happened. After we got separated, I found this girl sitting by herself, I sat down with her, we started talking and I quickly found we had a lot of the same interests and my conversation with her was very stimulating. She was one of the most intelligent girls I had ever talked with. We were tricked into drinking alcohol. We found ourselves playing spin the bottle with a group of people and I ended up going into a room with her, we started making out, one thing led to another and we ended up having sex. The next thing I know a bunch of people walked in on us after it was over, and you barely talked to me the rest of the time we were there except to say I stole your girlfriend. You didn't even have a girlfriend. She was a girl you had a crush on. Did she even know who you were?"

Owen turned to Sheldon, glaring at him. "Of course, she knew who I was. We had a class together. I just needed more time to ask her out, but you stole that opportunity from me."

Sheldon couldn't believe this man was still sulking about something that happened to them when they were teen…Sheldon stopped, realizing the age difference.

"Wait a minute. Did you even realize that she was only 16 at the time? She was a year younger than me which made her too young for you. You're almost 4 years older than me which would've made you almost 21 at the time. How could you have possibly gone out with her without ending up in jail?"

Owen took another long drink from his beer. "I would've waited until she was old enough."

Sheldon turned away sighing heavily. Apparently, Owen hadn't changed much in the 16 years since they had last spoken to each other. "Owen, I told you then and I'm telling you now, I had no idea the girl you had a crush on was the same one I lost my virginity to. And if it makes you feel any better, I never saw or talked to her again after the following weekend."

As soon as the last sentence was out, Sheldon realized his mistake. He had sworn he'd never admit to Owen that he and the brunette had slept together a second time a week later.

Owen angrily turned on him. "You saw her again the following weekend? Did you fuck her then too? Even after you knew how upset I was about it?" Owen demanded.

Sheldon didn't know what to say. He couldn't find the words to explain himself.

"Some friend you turned out to be!" Owen spat out angrily. "Stab me in the back by stealing my girl…"

"Jesus Christ Owen!" Sheldon yelled out angrily. "She wasn't your fucking girlfriend!" Sheldon stated loudly. "You barely knew her. Hell, I had gotten to know her far more than you had!"

Sheldon took a long drink of his beer. This was turning out to be the shittiest Monday he had in a long time. "Owen, we clicked. What else do you want me to say? I've apologized until I'm blue in the face but apparently you won't let this go." Sheldon dropped his head, not knowing what else to say.

"You haven't seen or talked to her since you left Germany?" Owen asked quietly.

"No, I haven't. I don't know where she is, what she's doing, nothing." Sheldon stated honestly. He looked at Owen. "Have you seen her?" Sheldon asked.

"Nope." Owen lied. "I don't have a clue where she is or what she's doing either."

Sheldon looked at him confused. "So why the hell are you bringing all this shit up now? What are you still pissed off about? It was over 15 years ago. She's gone. I've moved on, she's probably moved on. Let it go." Sheldon said quietly.

Owen looked at him for a long time before smiling at his old college friend. "Okay, you're right. It was a long time ago and you haven't been in contact with her so…" Owen said shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, lets drink to old friendships and re-establishing them." Sheldon said holding up his beer. "Let's just bury all this under the bridge and start over. How does that sound?" Sheldon asked.

Owen held up his beer and lightly tapped his bottle with Sheldon's. "To burying the hatchet and rekindling old friendships." Owen said. They both took a drink of their beers.

The two men sat and talked about old times and their current lives for over an hour before parting ways. Owen started walking towards his car slowly and turned to watch Sheldon.

For the next couple of minutes, he stood watching Sheldon as he walked towards the corner and crossed the street. Owen slowly started to follow him realizing, Sheldon was walking instead of driving. He was interested in where the man lived. He was sure Sheldon was being honest about not seeing Amy again since Germany, but he wanted to keep an eye on his old college roommate.

He followed the old saying, 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. And despite his new-found friendship with his old college friend, he considered Sheldon Cooper an enemy.

Authors note: Thank you all so much for the reviews. Just a heads up, I won't be able to add chapter 4 until this weekend. Thanks again for reading and reviewing!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 – The Chance Encounter Reoccurrences**

Amy woke up and stretched out on the bed, letting the sunlight hit her face. Tuesday was the day she could sleep in. And she had done just that. She glanced at her phone and saw it was well after 9am. After laying in bed for a few minutes, thinking of what she was going to do for the day, she got up and went to the kitchen and prepared her coffee maker to brew some coffee. She then went to the bathroom, took a long shower and strolled back into the kitchen to drink a cup of coffee in her robe.

Her phone binged, indicating an incoming text. She frowned when she saw Owen's name across the screen. She sighed and rolled her eyes, picking up the phone to read the text.

"Not coming in this morning? How about dinner this weekend? Saturday night at 7pm. I can pick you up at your apartment."

Amy gritted her teeth. "What part of 'I will meet you there' do you not understand?" She said aloud to the empty apartment. She started typing out a response.

"Don't need to come in today. Will be working on my final report at home. I will have to let you know about dinner. Still not finished with my work at UCLA and wanting to get things prepared for my new assignment."

She sat her phone down on the table and went to her room to get dressed and the bathroom to apply just a touch of make-up. She pulled her hair up in a sloppy ponytail and plopped down on the couch with her laptop to start writing up her report, wearing her most comfortable gray leggings and an oversized pink t-shirt. Her phone binged again 20 minutes into her zone and she looked up, her fingers still flying across the keyboard. She finished the paragraph she was working on and got up to get her phone. She saw on the screen that it was another text form Owen.

"I can come over and help you with your report. Keep you company. I can be there in a little bit."

Another text came through from Owen.

"Ok, I'll see you soon."

Amy's eyes widened, and she stood up in a panic.

"Oh, Hell No!" Amy said aloud. Had he found out where she lived? Was he really coming over? She slipped on her sneakers and ran around the apartment, gathering her stuff and shoving them in her bag. She was out the door in 5 minutes, making sure it was locked before turning towards the elevator. She stood impatiently prancing around the hall waiting for the elevator. She remembered the story Penny had told her about how the elevator had blown up and got fixed by her husband and his friends years ago. It worked and passed inspection by the city of Pasadena but was slower than molasses.

"Crap!" She grumbled and ran down the stairs.

She headed to Caltech, making sure to park in a completely different department from her own. She got out of the car and headed into the building, carrying several folders of papers and her briefcase slung over her shoulder that contained her laptop, not knowing where she was or where her own department was located.

After 20 minutes of walking around, her frustration grew. She still didn't know where she was and worse, she now didn't know where the door was that she had come in. She growled in frustration as she continued to walk down yet another hall that looked like all the rest. Looking down at her watch to check the time, she rounded a corner and suddenly fell back, landing on her ass with a hard thump.

Her folders went flying out of her arms and scattered everywhere on the linoleum floor. She opened her eyes and looked to see a pair of men's black dress shoes and black pants.

"I'm so sorry." She began to say as she started to get up and was suddenly lifted off the floor and helped to her feet, seeing a strong hand with long fingers grabbing a hold of her arm. She looked at the person who had helped her and only saw a burgundy buttoned up dress shirt. Her stomach flipped, and her breath caught when she looked up and found the man who rear ended her the day before, standing above her with an annoyed scrawl on his face, glaring down at her with his intense blue eyes. They seemed so familiar and yet…

"Are you lost again?" He asked, arching his eyebrows questioningly and jerking her out of her thoughts.

"I…uh…" Amy didn't know what to say. She didn't want to admit that she was, in fact, lost. Not to this man of all people. She could feel her face start to turn red with embarrassment. What was it about this guy that made her nervous? And not in a bad way.

"This isn't the neurobiology department. And I'm sorry to say, you don't look like a doctor of neurobiology. You look more like a grad student." The man said, arms crossed, looking down at her with a smirk.

Amy had bent down gathering up her papers and trying to put them all in a single pile. She'd sort them out later when she got to her lab. "Not that it's any of your business, I decided to come in at the last minute and I was in a hurry and didn't have time to change." She said in between bending over. "You could be a gentleman and help me with this." She stated, glancing up at him.

"I'm not much of a gentleman to young girls that try to knock me over because they're not paying attention to where they're going and frankly, I'm enjoying the view." He stated honestly with a sly smile.

Amy shot straight up, her face turning even more red and she consciously held the folders against her rear end. She frowned up at him and glared. "That's not very gentlemanly at all." She retorted.

Sheldon shrugged his shoulders. "You ran into me this time and you're the one that keeps throwing your ass in the air like that. I'm debating on whether you're wanting me to smack it like I did to your car yesterday."

Amy turned away, so he wouldn't see her own smirk. "That comment from yesterday came out wrong." She said, honestly.

Sheldon smiled teasingly at her. "Yes, it did. But that's ok. Yesterday was my fault but no harm was done. Today was your fault and no harm was done. So…have a nice day." He stepped aside to walk around her and started going down the hall.

"Wait!" Amy called out. She still had no idea where she was, although because of who she ran into, she suspected it was the physicist department or close to that department. "Could you please point me in the direction of the neurobiology department?" She asked.

Sheldon sighed and turned around, the annoyance back on his face. "It's clear on the other side of campus." He said. He stood there a moment and his shoulders fell. "Fine. Follow me." He said walking swiftly past her. Amy hurried to follow.

For the next 15 minutes, Amy walked behind the man who's name she still didn't know, enjoying her own view. His rear didn't look too bad in the black slacks he wore. She listened intently in between peeks and turned whenever he pointed out each department they passed, along with the various bathrooms and the cafeteria. They finally came around the final corner and the man stopped and pointed in the direction of the neurobiology department. "There you are. Good day and thanks for wasting 30 minutes of my time." He turned to walk away.

"It only took 15 minutes to get here." Amy stated, immediately realizing her mistake at that comment.

"And its going to take me 15 more minutes to get back. 15 plus 15 is what, Dr. I'm a neurobiologist?" He turned, asking her with annoyance.

"You're an ass." Amy retorted, frowning at him.

"You're not the first person to tell me that and I'm sure you won't be the last." Sheldon said crossing his arms behind him as he walked away.

Amy quickly found her lab and gathered her papers in the right folders. After 30 minutes of getting acquainted with her new lab, she realized she was famished and was able to get help locating the cafeteria again by a friendly grad student. Much friendlier than the man she had encountered earlier. From the description Amy gave her, the girl had told her the man in question was more than likely Dr. Cooper. She agreed with Amy that he was indeed an ass.

XXXXXXX

Owen pulled his red car to the back of the parking lot and backed into a spot between another red car and an old brown truck. He was glad that he was able to hide his car between vehicles of similar colors in a sea of black, white, silver and gray. Red and blue cars, these days, had a tenancy to stick out like sore thumbs. But red was his favorite color so he now had to deal with it.

He wondered if he should trade it in for a silver car. The same color as Amy's. Her car was much harder to spot, and he hated that. His car was easy to spot, and he hated that even more.

He had noted that she hadn't come into her lab that morning and he wondered what her plans were going to be or if she was planning on coming in later.

After his conversation with Sheldon at the bar the night before, he was relieved that he still had a shot with her. Seeing Sheldon Cooper had almost sent Owen into a panic. He couldn't believe Sheldon was living here in California and had been for quite some time. Owen had only been here for 4 years. That was encouraging that they had been in such close proximity and had never run into each other until last night. What would be the chances of he and Amy running into each other again in just the short few weeks she had been here?

He didn't mean to get angry or start digging for information about Amy, but he just couldn't restrain himself from finding out just how much, if anything, Sheldon knew about her now. He still held anger towards the man for sleeping with the girl he harbored feeling for, but Sheldon had been right. Amy hardly knew who Owen was at the time they were all in Germany and she was too young for him back then but now, they were both adults. There were no age limitations to hold them back now.

He had sent her a quick text earlier that morning, inquiring about her plans for the day and trying to set a date for dinner. He was disappointed when he received a response back stating she would be working from home and again, not setting a firm date for his dinner invitation.

His next text to her was a way to get her out of her apartment so he could hopefully find her and find out where she would be working and then follow her home and find out where she was living. He had parked at the back of the neurology department's parking lot, so he could have a perfect view of the entrance and from where he was parked, could see and study every car that pulled in. But after 2 hours of sitting in his car on one of the hottest days of the week, he decided he had waited long enough and that maybe Caltech wasn't the university she would be doing her next assignment for.

That was a great relieve to Owen. At least the two people from his past would not be working in the same university now. Of course, to keep an eye on Sheldon, he would have to renew their friendship. But he would always consider him an enemy.

XXXXXXX

Amy stood in line with the rest of her future colleagues waiting to get to the check out to pay for her lunch. She saw a tray with one more chocolate pudding cup and snatched it up before anyone else could. She loved chocolate pudding and hadn't had one in a long time. 5 minutes later she found an empty table and sat down to enjoy her lunch before returning to her lab to finish her work for the day.

"Hope you enjoy the last chocolate pudding." A man's voice growled at her as he walked by. She looked up and saw the familiar black slacks… 'with the nice firm round ass.' She thought to herself, blushing…and burgundy dress shirt. He turned and sat facing her two tables away. Two other men had joined him. A man of Indian descent with black curly hair, caramel colored skin, a blue long sleeve shirt and jeans. And the other man had long wavy dark hair cut short and combed back with big blue eyes. He was dressed in jeans also and wearing a green sweater.

Amy saw that Dr. Cooper was glaring at her as he ate his lunch, only half listening to his companions. She knew from the comment he made as he walked by that he was angry with her for taking the last pudding. She didn't care. She saw it first and she was going to savor her pudding.

'This is going to be fun.' She thought with a little grin. She finished her lunch and then grabbed the chocolate pudding, opening it slowly. She glanced up as she dipped her spoon into the brown pudding and brought it to her mouth, wrapping her lips around the spoon and pulling it out slowly and giving the spoon a slow lick.

She grinned when Dr. Coopers mouth dropped open, his fork dropping onto his tray as he sat there and stared at her, watching her every move as she slowly ate her pudding cup. As she finished the last bite, she glanced up and her stomach flipped hard. Dr. Cooper was staring at her with hooded eyes and a smirk on his face. Amy blushed and quickly grabbed her tray and got up to leave. She dared to walk past him and bent down slightly. "I enjoyed my pudding cup immensely." She said, as she walked by. She walked around the table next to his and glanced over at him.

"I enjoyed watching you eat it." He said with a grin. The two guys with him looked on in confusion.

"Who was that?" she heard one of them ask. She guessed it was the Indian guy from his accent.

Amy walked to the trash can, dumping the contents of her tray into it and walked out the doorway, glancing back to see that Dr. Cooper was still watching her with a small smile on his face. There was something about him that she still couldn't put her finger on. Did she know him from before? She didn't think so but his eyes. There was something about his eyes she couldn't quite place.

XXXXXXX

"Dude! Are you going to answer me? Who was that girl?" Raj asked as the girl walked out of the cafeteria.

"Oh, just somebody I ran into yesterday and today." Sheldon answered with a smile as he continued to eat his lunch. He thought about the way she ate her pudding and his smile grew. He enjoyed her little show and enjoyed watching her green eyes light up with every bite. Her eyes. There was something familiar about her eyes that he couldn't figure out. She was starting to be a mystery that he was going to enjoy solving. He hoped to run into her again soon.

XXXXXXX

Dr. Greene had sat there in silence, watching the whole exchange from her table in the corner. She was unable to hear what Dr. Cooper had whispered to the brunette woman. But he didn't look happy with her which was a good thing. But then his demeanor towards the brunette woman changed completely when she started eating her pudding. The woman had flirted with him and he had enjoyed it. When the woman had gotten up to leave, she walked past Dr. Cooper and had bent down to say something to him, a grin on her face. He had replied something back with a grin of his own. The only thing Dr. Greene had heard anyone say was Dr. Koothrappali, asking Dr. Cooper who the woman was. That was a question she herself wanted to know.

Where did he know her from? Was she a grad student here? Was she in one of his classes? Were they former lovers? Or worse, current lovers?

Even though things had ended badly between her and Sheldon, she still held out hope that she could rekindle their romance. But now this brunette woman was trying to worm her way in. She needed to put a stop to that but she also knew she would have to be careful. Once again, she would need to eliminate the competition without getting caught.

But first, she would need to find out if she was even a true threat or not. No need to risk eliminating someone when they didn't need to be eliminated. Especially since the last time, she was almost caught.

Thanks for the reviews!


	5. Chapter 5

**Authors Note – **Sorry it took me awhile to get you guys an update. Been busy this week so I've updated 2 chapters this time around. Next update probably won't be until next weekend.

**Chapter 5 – The Chance Encounter Reoccurrences**

Despite having a bad day Monday, Sheldon had a productive week and decided he wanted to take Thursday afternoon off. He needed to stop at the grocery store for a few things and hated going on the weekend. The stores were always too crowded for him on the weekends and he preferred going during the work week because it was less crowded. He also knew he'd be watching the twins later the following week and wouldn't have time to go. He knew from experiences that taking those two toddlers shopping was expensive. They wanted and begged for everything in sight and they were hard to resist at times. Which reminded him, he also needed to get their birthday gifts.

He left his office and drove to the store nearest to his apartment. He was taking his time, going down every aisle, marking items off his list. As he was walking along the canned goods aisle, pushing his cart, he looked down at his list, surveying the items he still had to get, not paying attention to what he was doing.

He suddenly looked up with surprise when his cart crashed into another cart. The owner of the other cart had also looked up, surprised and instantly started laughing. Sheldon saw that it was the woman he kept running into, literally, and started laughing himself.

"Well, we really have to stop meeting like this. One of us is bound to get injured." The woman stated, still smiling, her green eyes bright and shining in the light. Her brown hair was down, cascading in soft waves. Sheldon saw she was dressed casually in jeans and a buttoned floral blouse. He swallowed, clearing his throat and tried to gather his thoughts.

He could only nod his head and smile at her. "We'll have to start meeting in a different way then." He finally said, noticing the contents of her cart. "I see you've bought all the chocolate pudding in the store." He teased her, pointing at the pudding in her cart.

Amy looked down into her cart at the 3 family sized packages of chocolate pudding sitting at the bottom and blushed. "Well, maybe I plan on sharing it with someone." She said smiling up at Dr. Cooper, noticing he was wearing jeans and a light blue polo shirt, that made his eyes more noticeable.

_Those eyes. What was it about those eyes?_ She wondered to herself.

Sheldon smiled back at her. "Well, how thoughtful of you…Miss…I never did get your name from our previous encounters."

Amy held her hand out for him to shake. "Dr. Amy Fowler. And you?" She asked, already knowing.

Sheldon smiled, looking at her with an intense gaze, never taking his eyes off her as he reached out and took her hand, pulling it to his lips and kissing the back of it softly, causing Amy's heart to skip and the butterflies in her stomach to take flight. "Dr. Sheldon Cooper." He answered, letting her hand go.

Amy had to take a moment to catch her breath, hoping he didn't notice. "Nice to officially meet you." She said sincerely.

"Likewise." He said. "Hopefully, I'll see you around the university again Dr. Fowler. Maybe we can have lunch sometime, if that's alright with you."

"I'd like that, Dr. Cooper." Amy said, smiling. "Until next time." She said maneuvering her shopping cart around his, walking to the end of the aisle. When she got to the end of the aisle, she turned to wave at Dr. Cooper who was still standing there by his cart watching her. He waved back at her as she disappeared. On his shopping list he wrote at the bottom the name of his favorite bottle of wine and scribbled Amy's name next to it.

XXXXXXX

The next day, Amy found her way to the physicist department with a large box containing the chocolate pudding she had purchased at the store. After getting directions from a short woman with curly brown hair, she was able to find Dr. Cooper's office and knocked on the partially opened door. She heard a woman's voice from inside inviting her in.

Surprised, Amy opened the door to find a young woman wearing a pair of tan slacks and a purple sweater, her long brown hair hanging over her shoulders, her bright blue eyes looked towards the door and the woman smiled as Amy entered.

"Hi! Can I help you?" The woman asked kindly.

"Um…yeah…uh…" Amy stammered. "I'm looking for Dr. Sheldon Cooper. Is he here today?" Amy asked, wondering who the woman was and feeling oddly jealous of the pretty young girl.

"Oh, yes he is but he stepped out for a bit. Did you want to wait for him or I can leave him a message or…" the young woman offered, getting up and walking towards a chair that she was inviting Amy to sit in.

"No, that's ok." Amy said walking into the room further. "I just wanted to drop this off." She placed the box with a blue bow on the desk.

"Ok, I'll be sure to let him know you stopped by Miss…?" The woman asked.

"Dr. Amy Fowler." Amy answered, standing there looking at the woman and giving her a small smile.

"I'm Dr. Cooper's assistant, Alex Jenson. It's nice to meet you." The young woman said warmly with a friendly smile, reaching out to shake Amy's hand.

Amy suddenly felt foolish. Who was she to question anybody in Sheldon's life? She hardly knew him and yet she felt oddly jealous for some reason. She wasn't sure why. For all she knew, Dr. Sheldon Cooper could be married with a family or already have a girlfriend. She wondered if this young girl was more than just an assistant. But Amy didn't want to stick around any longer. She was feeling more foolish by the second and felt the need to leave. She said her goodbyes and quickly left, wanting to leave before Sheldon came back.

Amy quickly made her way to her own lab and decided to just wait and see what would happen next.

XXXXXXX

Owen checked his phone and frowned, seeing there was still no new text message from Amy. He had avoided contacting her all week hoping she would reach out to him and let him know she would meet him for dinner Saturday night. But she hadn't, and he was growing impatient. He also hadn't had any luck in finding out which college she would be working at for her next assignment or where her apartment was.

He tapped his phone, trying to figure out what to text her without coming out sounding desperate. He sat at his desk lost in thought when he heard a knock at his door.

"Hi Dr. Bates." Lisa quietly said from the open door. "I brought a copy of the report you requested." She said waiting to be invited in.

Owen looked at her a moment and reached his arm out for the report she held in her hand. She scurried into his office and handed him the report. He glanced through the pages quickly and put it in a file on his desk.

"Thank you, Lisa. That will be all." He said dismissively.

Lisa smiled shyly and turned away to walk out but stopped when he called her name again. She turned to face him.

"Have you heard from Dr. Fowler since she finished her work here?" He asked innocently.

"Yes, I have. She's jumping right into her next project, so we haven't had time to hang out or anything." She stated.

"That's too bad. She hasn't accepted my dinner invitation, but I was really wanting to try out this new restaurant I found and I hate going to restaurants alone. You wouldn't happen to want to join me for dinner, tonight would you?" He asked smiling up at her.

"Oh, yes that would be lovely!" She said excitedly, giving Owen a big smile/

"Good. Give me your address and I'll pick you up at 6." He said, sliding a pad of paper towards the edge of his desk and handing her a pen.

XXXXXXX

For the last several months, Sheldon sat in his usual spot on Sunday morning, his neighbors' kitchen island. He was eating the breakfast Penny had made for him and jumped when she squealed loudly for the 3rd time and danced around the sink. He glanced at the boys who had turned around to look at their mother.

"Mommy why do you keep making that noise? Are you hurt?" Elliot asked with concern in his voice. He had never seen his mother act this way and it was confusing to him.

"I'm just excited." Penny told him, tousling his dark hair and then started running her fingers through it and examining it more closely with a small smile on her face. "The same shade as his." She mumbled to herself.

"What?" The boys asked in unison

Penny looked up with surprise. "Oh nothing. I'm just thinking out loud." She said absentmindedly. "I'm going to get dressed. Sheldon, can you stay here with them while I get a shower?" She asked the man sitting across from her children.

"Yep." He replied, eating the last of his eggs.

He jumped again, almost choking on his food as Penny's 4th squeal reached his ears. She grabbed his arm and squeezed it as she buried her face in his shoulders.

Sheldon glanced up at the astonished expressions on the twins faces. "Your mother is just super excited about your birthday party. Less than 1 week away." He told them with a smile.

"She's more excited than we are." Elliot said, watching his mother literally half skip, half dance towards the hallway. He turned to his twin and started debating which famous person or cartoon character she got to come to their party. Sheldon sat and quietly listened to their debate, not saying a word.

After the boys were done with their breakfast, Sheldon put their plates in the sink, washed them and placed them in the drain. "So, what are we going to do while mom's away on her commercial shoot?" He asked the boys.

"Museum."

"Library."

"Dinosaur Farm."

"Reese's Retreat."

"Movies."

"Disneyland." They both said together.

Sheldon sighed, rolling his eyes. "I walked right into that one." He said to himself. "You guys still have preschool and I have work. Mom will be back Friday afternoon and Saturday is your party. So, pick some activities that we can do here after work and school." He stated. "I was thinking Wednesday night we can go visit Stuart at his comic book store and Thursday we can play whatever games you want to, and Friday afternoon mom will be back, and you can help get your party decorations ready for Saturday."

"Yah!" The boys cheered.

"We get to help with the decorations." Elliot insisted. Christian nodded his head in agreement.

Soon Penny came back into the living room, dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt. "Okay guys, your turn. Dressed and then we'll go visit the museum." She smiled at them as she watched them walk towards the hall to their rooms to change into their clothes. She squealed again with excitement. "3 more days!" She gushed, grabbing Sheldon's arm again.

"You have got to control yourself, woman!" Sheldon looked at her sternly. "You're going to blow your cover and the whole surprise." He said in exasperation.

"I can't help it! I haven't seen him in 4 months! And I get to see him in 3 more days!" Penny let out another loud squeal.

"And stop grabbing my arm! You're going to rip it off with your Nebraska man hands!" He retorted, rubbing his arm with an annoyed look on his face.

Penny glared at him and stuck her tongue out. Then suddenly twirled around and squealed with excitement again.

Sheldon rolled his eyes and rubbed his arm but couldn't help but smile at Penny's excitement. He was excited to see his best friend also. Not as excited as his wife, but excited all the same.

XXXXXXX

Amy was in her lab, bright and early Monday morning, clicking through pictures on her laptop while a monkey that sat behind her watched the screen. After every picture, Amy would note the monkey's reaction and write down some notes on a legal pad. She turned when she heard a knock on the door.

"I have a delivery here for a Dr. Amy Fowler." A delivery man said, holding a long narrow silver bag.

"I'm Dr. Fowler." Amy said smiling, walking towards the door to sign for the bag. "Thank you." She smiled at him, taking the bottle of wine to her table. She pulled out the bottle and the note. She saw that the wine was a German wine and one of Amy's favorites. She took the note from the little envelope, smiling as she read what it said.

_Thank you for the pudding. I'm sure I'll have plenty left over for dessert if you'd like to join me for dinner sometime. Maybe we could also share a glass of wine with dinner as well. I hope you like it. It's one of my favorites. Sheldon_

"How thoughtful." She said to herself, smiling. She sat the wine down and continued her work with a smile still on her face. She hoped to see him again soon and if he asked her out, she'd accept.

Unlike Owen, Sheldon wasn't creepy at all and he didn't make her feel uneasy. And if she was honest with herself, she was drawn to him for some reason. The butterflies in her stomach always seemed to move around whenever she saw him.

Before long, Amy got lost in her work and didn't notice the figure in her doorway until the man cleared his throat. She glanced up smiling, thinking it was Sheldon but her stomach dropped with dread when she saw Owen standing in the doorway.

"Well, I see you're just as busy at this new job as you were your last one." Owen said with a smile, walking slowly into the lab. The monkey watching the computer screen eyed the man wearily. When Owen got too close, she started to screech loudly and jumped into Amy's arms.

"Getting the monkey's drunk, are you?" Owen asked, pointing to the bottle of wine.

Amy laughed nervously and grabbed the wine, placing it back in the bag with the note. "A friend sent it to me…a congratulatory gift." She lied. She sensed that the contents of the note wouldn't go over well with Owen. Especially since she still hadn't accepted his dinner invitation but was more than willing to accept one from another man's.

She placed the wine bag in her office and put the monkey in her cage, leaving the cage door open. When she went back to the lab, Owen was closing in, almost in the doorway of her office. Amy frowned and motioned for him to go back towards the lab. "So how about dinner Saturday night. Maybe we could take in a movie that afternoon before hand." Owen asked, once again standing too close for Amy's comfort.

Amy stepped aside to give herself some space. "I'm sorry, Owen, I have other plans Saturday."

His smile dropped. "Too busy for me but not busy enough to go out with someone else?" He asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Amy turned to face him, crossing her arms. "Not that it's any of your business but I was invited to a children's birthday party and that is what I'm doing Saturday afternoon. As for Saturday night, I don't know what my plans are, but I can assure you, it won't be doing anything with you." She said angrily. "And I'd appreciate it if you stopped stalking me. Now if you'll excuse me…"

"What makes you think I'm stalking you?" Owen asked, sounding and looking offended. Amy, however, could see past his act.

"How did you know which university my next project was going to be at?" Amy asked, glaring at him. Owen stared at her, not knowing what to say.

"Lisa called me Sunday night and told me about the wonderful dinner date she had with you. So nice of you to use her crush on you to dig up information about me. Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do. And don't bother coming back unless or until you're invited back." Amy said angrily, walking to the door and holding it open.

Owen walked out, and Amy closed the door, locking it before returning to her work.

Owen stood on the other side of the door, stewing and deep in thought. He didn't have time that day to follow her, but he would be patient and bide his time and follow her another day. He was able to find out from Lisa where Dr. Fowler's next project would be but she either didn't know or wouldn't reveal where the good doctor was residing. That was fine with him. He could work with the information he was given. He smiled to himself as he walked away.

Amy leaned against the door, trying to calm her racing heart. She was angry with Lisa for revealing where her new project was to that creep but yet, she couldn't stay angry with the poor girl. She didn't know it was a secret and she didn't see what she saw in Owen. The guy made Amy's skin crawl and she didn't know why. There was something about him she did not like at all.

She didn't remember him being this creepy in Germany. In fact, he didn't seem creepy at all back then. Just an awkward geeky guy in one of her classes that had a harmless crush on her and followed her around whenever he saw her. But he always kept his distance. He never approached her or tried to speak to her.

Now, he was totally different and not in a good way. She hoped she would never have to run into him again but she doubted she would be so lucky.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 – The Chance Encounter Reoccurrences**

Sheldon took off early Wednesday afternoon to pick up the twins from preschool. Penny had already left for the hotel to meet up with their father and spend a couple of days alone with him. Sheldon was relieved to see her go, sure that she was going to pierce his eardrums with all her excited squealing.

After the boys finished purchasing their comic books and picking up a pizza, they headed home. "Ok, now what do you want to do?" Sheldon asked them, clearing up the plates and left-over pizza.

"Tell us how you met daddy." Christian said, looking up with a sweet smile.

"Yeah, tell us a story about you and daddy." Elliot chimed in.

"Alright but get ready for bed first and I'll tell you the story about how me and your father met." Sheldon said. "Meet back here in 5 minutes."

5 minutes later, Sheldon sat in the middle of the couch with each twin on either side of him. "Okay…" Sheldon began.

_2003…._

_Sheldon had finally gotten rid of his dead-beat roommate and was now looking for another one but this time, he wanted someone similar to him. Someone he could relate to instead of the lazy bum he had agreed to move in with. He had decided to talk to the building manager and was told to pay half of everything himself so that way, the manager could redo the lease with just Sheldon. After 2 months, the guy was finally evicted, and Sheldon put everything in his name._

_As he was putting the notice for a roommate on the bulletin board at Caltech, a guy with long curly shoulder length hair, came up to read the notice._

"_Hey, I'm Leonard Hofstadter. I'm an experimental physicist here. Do you mind if I come by and see the apartment?" He asked, pointing to the notice Sheldon had just put up on the board. His dark brown eyes and thick brows made him look stern, but Sheldon decided to talk with him for a bit before deciding whether or not to let him see the place. He soon found Leonard to be very friendly and they also had a lot of similar interests._

_After a couple of weeks, Leonard had moved in and everything, for the most part and except for a few minor pitfalls, had been great._

The twins looked at him expectantly. "What else?" Asked Elliot.

Sheldon shrugged his shoulders. "There's nothing much to tell. For the next 10 years, we did the same things we do now except a lot more of it because you monkeys weren't around. And your dad doesn't date other girls anymore."

As the boys climbed into their twin beds in what had once been Sheldon's old room, they started grumbling about not being sleepy and wanting to stay up later since their parents weren't there.

"And that was a lame story Uncle Sheldon." Elliot chided him.

"Okay, okay." Sheldon said. "Let me think… Oh there was the time…Nope. Can't tell you that story."

He looked around the bedroom, thinking of a good story. "Oh, how about the time us guys….no. Can't tell you that story either. Mmmmm…..Oh, there was the time we…No…No…Your mother would kill me if I told you that story….well, no…."

Elliott and Christian looked at Sheldon with blank expressions on their face. They were not amused.

"Can't you tell us anything good about you and daddy and Uncle Howard and Uncle Raj?" Christian asked.

"And not a story that's lame or boring." Elliott added.

"Well, there isn't much to tell a couple of 4-year old's. Maybe when you're older, me and dad will fill in the more age appropriate blanks."

"Yah!" The boys cried excitedly.

"Okay, I'll be on the couch if you need me." Sheldon told them, getting up and walking towards the door.

"You're not sleeping in Mommy and Daddy's room?" Christian asked.

"Good Lord, No!" Sheldon said, looking at them with a horrified look on his face. "Don't you guys hear…never mind." He said, walking out the door, realizing that the ability to be noisy was one of the many reasons the twin's parents wanted a couple days alone.

XXXXXXX

Penny curled up in her husband's arms, blissfully content. She missed being there in her husband's arms more than she could possibly imagine and she hoped she'd never have to go without being there again. Or at least not for a whole 4 months.

Leonard rested against the headboard, one arm around his wife, lightly caressing her hair while looking through her phone at all the photos she had taken of the twins. He had missed all three of them like crazy.

"I can't wait to see them Saturday!" Leonard said, still looking through the pictures.

Penny smiled. "I can't wait to see their faces when they see you."

Leonard laughed. "Yeah, that'll be great to see. You're getting that on camera, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, Sheldon's going to film them as they're sitting there opening their gifts." Penny said snuggling up even more. "I can't believe how fast it's really going. People tell you it goes by fast but man…they weren't kidding."

"I know. It seems like yesterday when they were born. It seems like yesterday when I met you." Leonard said, thinking back to that day 6 years ago.

_2007…_

_Leonard walked into the laundry room to do his laundry, expecting to have the place to himself. He stopped short when he saw a petite blond, her back to him, wearing the shortest shorts, leaning over one of the machines to change the dial on the load of clothes she had in there. Leonard stood there enjoying the view._

_After a minute of standing there feeling more and more like a pervert, Leonard finally backed out of the door way and went to the lobby, then started walking down the hall towards the laundry room again, whistling a tune. When he got to the doorway of the laundry room, he stopped, seeing Penny standing by the machine, a welcoming smile on her face._

"_Hi." _

"_Hi."_

"_Hi."_

_They both laughed. Leonard stepped forward and put his basket down on the table and stepped over to her with his hand out. "I'm Leonard. Welcome to the building."_

_The girl shook his hand and smiled warmly at him. "I'm Penny. Thanks! I just moved here last weekend."_

"_That's nice. Are you originally from California or…." Leonard asked._

"_I'm from Nebraska. A few of my girlfriends and I came out to California a couple years ago after high school to hit it big. One went back home, one met a lawyer and got married and the other one decided to move in with her boyfriend. I couldn't afford the place on my own, so I decided to find a cheaper place and stay in California a little longer." Penny stated with a smile. "So here I am."_

"_Well, I'm from New Jersey, got my doctorate at Princeton, and now I'm an experimental physicist at Caltech." Leonard offered. "So, what do you do for a living?"_

"_I'm mainly a waitress at the Cheesecake Factory but I've also done a few commercials here and there. Hoping I land a small part in a big movie. Maybe I'll get discovered." Penny said, jumping up on the washing machine to sit and wait for them to finish so she could toss them in the dryer._

"_Oh, yeah, I thought you looked familiar. You're in the cereal commercial." Leonard said excitedly._

"_Yeah! That's me!" Penny said, her smile growing._

_For the next 2 hours, they sat in the laundry room talking about whatever came to mind. When they were finished with their laundry, they took the slow elevator up to the fourth floor._

_When the elevator doors finally opened, the aroma of Chinese food hit them. _

"_Would you like to join my roommate and I for Chinese? There's plenty. We always get extra in case someone stops by." Leonard said._

"_Sure! I love Chinese food and it smells great." Penny smiled, accepting his invitation._

_She dropped her basket of clothes in her apartment and followed Leonard into his. Sheldon was standing in the living room working on his white board, dressed in jeans and a gray t-shirt. He turned to acknowledge Leonard._

"_Food just arrived. Hello." He greeted the woman with Leonard and seeing Leonard standing just behind her, giving Sheldon his stern look and the signal they had for each other regarding women they were interested in pursuing. An index finger followed by the action of shooting a gun with their fingers. "1__st__ shot"_

_It was their unspoken signal to each other when meeting a girl they were interested in. The first one that made the signal got the first chance with her and the other was to refrain from making a pass at her or trying to 'steal' her away. They also had an agreement of not dating or sleeping with the others ex without verbal acknowledgement that it was okay._

_40 minutes later and numerous eye rolls from Sheldon, Penny excused herself to go to the bathroom. "She's all yours." Sheldon informed Leonard._

"_What?!" Leonard asked with genuine shock and confusion at his friends' lack of interest. "She's absolutely beautiful and delightful! How can you not see that?" Leonard asked in astonishment._

"_Yes, Leonard, I can see that she is physically attractive but that alone isn't going to get Little Shelly to stand at attention and work his magic." Sheldon explained with annoyance, gesturing to his genital area. "As far as he's concerned, she's a dog. She'd have to literally stick her hand down there and physically get him to stand up through physical stimulation and even then, I don't know how long he'll continue to do so once I put him to work, knowing there's nothing but rocks rolling around in her head." He turned back to his white board._

_Leonard shook his head at him. "You're really weird, you know that?"_

"_I have no control over how my brain works, Leonard." Sheldon said, turning to look at the shorter man. "Intelligence is my primary attraction to a woman. Her looks are secondary. Always has been. Always will be. In fact, until I lost my virginity in Germany, I thought I was asexual."_

Leonard and Penny laughed at the memory. "Well, now I know why none of my friends were good enough." Penny said. "But I think our new neighbor is going to be perfect for him."

Leonard gave her a questioning look. Penny sat up, her eyes twinkling. "She's freaky smart like you guys, works at UCLA, she's a neuro…something or other."

"She's been living here for over a month and they haven't bumped into each other yet?" Leonard asked.

"No." Penny answered with a pout. "They've both been super busy, and they never seem to be at the same place at the same time. Or they're avoiding meeting each other."

"Why would they avoid it?" Leonard asked.

"Well I don't know about her, but Sheldon's grumbled about it." Penny said.

"Well, considering all the girls you unsuccessfully set him up with, can you blame him?" Leonard asked with amusement.

Penny sighed. "Well if he wasn't so weirdly picky…"

"Actually, it's not as weird as you think. You got heterosexuals, homosexuals, asexuals…." Leonard began to explain. "I think Sheldon is a sapiosexual. He finds a woman's brain sexier than her body. And if she has the brains, along with a nice rear end, he's going to get him some of that."

Penny beamed, laughing with delight. "Perfect! I've finally found him the perfect match. She's freaky smart like him and has what I call a 'Sheldon approved ass.' She'll be at the party Saturday."

XXXXXXX

After a few hours, Sheldon was ready to turn in himself and went to the boys' room to check on them. He opened the door as quietly as he could and silently walked to the two beds looking down at the sleeping toddlers. He smiled fondly at them and hoped someday he would find someone he could meet and marry and have a family with. He swallowed, remembering a time the two boys almost didn't make it into the world….

_February 2009…_

_Sheldon walked into the kitchen wearing plaid pajama bottoms and a matching shirt but didn't bother buttoning it up. As requested, he was wearing something other than just underwear. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he opened the refrigerator in the apartment he shared with Leonard and reached for his milk. But his hand kept grabbing other things. He finally bent down to look with drowsy eyes and saw no milk in sight. He had just bought it less than 24 hours before and his roommate didn't like the taste. Sheldon let out a low angry growl and cursed as he slammed the door shut. "Damn it, Penny!"_

_He stormed across the hall, letting himself in with a spare key. As soon as he opened her front door, he saw the milk on her kitchen island and groaned loudly. "She better be up." He mumbled to himself, walking over to the island. He felt the milk and cursed again at the lack of coldness against the palm of his hand. "Son of a bitch!" He growled._

_He started to get angry and was about to grab the milk to toss it in the sink but stopped dead in his tracks at the mess scattered around the island. Two bottles of Vodka were laying on their side, one empty and the second more than half way gone. Papers, pamphlets and a notepad with Penny's handwriting were scattered among the mess, along with what looked to be about a whole box of used Kleenex. She had been searching for information on abortions. The last thing he spotted among the mess was a pregnancy test stick. The test had been taken and it read 'positive.' _

_Sheldon sighed, tearing a piece of paper from the notebook and wrote a quick note._

"_When you wake up, find me so we can talk. Sheldon" _

_He walked into her bedroom and saw she was passed out, still dressed, on her bed. He checked her pulse on her wrist just for his peace of mind, remembering the empty and nearly empty vodka bottles in the kitchen and went to her bathroom, taping the note to her mirror._

_He went back to his apartment to find Raj's sister, Priya, in the kitchen making breakfast in her underwear. "Good morning, Sheldon. Would you like me to make you something to eat?"_

_Sheldon frowned at her. "If I can't walk around in my own apartment half naked, why do you get to?" He asked, grabbing a coffee mug from the cupboard._

_Priya took a few steps towards him, running her hands up his chest, looking up at him with hooded eyes. "When Leonard goes downstairs to do his laundry, we can be fully naked together. How does that sound?" She asked seductively, her hands going down to his stomach and reached the waistband of his pajama pants._

_Sheldon placed the coffee mug on the counter and grabbed Priya's wrists and pulled her hands away from his body, looking down at her. "Let me get this straight." He began, crossing his arms. "Whenever you come to town, you manage to talk Leonard into breaking up with whoever he happens to be seeing at the time, so he can be with you guilt free. This time, you're being transferred to LA and want to make things with him permanent."_

"_Well, no just until I find someone more suitable." She said, dismissively. _

_Sheldon's anger grew. "You do realize he ended a long-term relationship with Penny just so he could be with you, right?" Sheldon asked, trying to hide his anger._

"_Oh, she'll get over it and find someone more suited for her. She's young. She needs to go out and have fun until she's ready to settle down with someone more suitable for her." Priya said dismissively._

"_And you don't think that might just be Leonard?" Sheldon asked, struggling to hide his anger._

"_Oh, please Sheldon. She's not academically compatible with him or you or my brother or even Howard. She's a waitress and a struggling actress who's never going to make anything of herself." She said, turning to grab the plate of eggs on the counter._

"_She might not be academically inclined the way we are, but she has a bigger heart than you'll ever hope to have and unlike you, she's loyal." Sheldon spat out, angrily._

_Priya slowly turned to face him. "Oh, I see. You're defending her which tells me, you have feelings for her. Does Leonard know about the two of you?" Priya said with a sly smile that Sheldon wanted to slap off her face. _

"_I've never slept with Penny nor have I ever had a desire to do so but I can assure you I'd much rather fuck her than you any day." He said, grabbing his cup of coffee and storming off to his room._

_A few hours later his phone binged, indicating an incoming text message._

"_We have nothing to talk about. It's not yours." Penny had texted back to him._

_Sheldon rolled his eyes as he typed out his sarcastic response. "Well that's good to know and a big relief considering we've never had sex before."_

"_Really?" What about the last time Leonard pulled this shit with that foreign slut bag and I got drunk and tried to get you in bed?" Penny's next text asked._

"_You didn't succeed." Was Sheldon's response. He never told her or Leonard, but she almost had. He was going through an exceptionally long dry spell at the time and despite his primary attraction to a woman's intelligence rather than her appearance, Penny had grabbed him, thrusting her tongue in his mouth and her hands down his pants before he knew what was happening and for several seconds, he lost the ability to think straight. But he quickly pulled himself out of her grasp and ran out of her apartment and went to find Raj who had hooked him up with a grad student. He and Leonard had an agreement regarding ex's and he wasn't about to break it for anyone._

"_He's not coming back this time. Raj said she's moving here permanently. I lost him for good this time. What am I going to do? How am I going to tell him? It's just easier this way." _

"_Is your head clear enough to talk?"_

_He went to Penny's and made her promise to give him 2 weeks before doing anything. He wanted her to have time to think and clear her head. He also wanted to see if he could get Leonard to get rid of Priya once and for all._

_In half that time, Sheldon got Priya to make another pass at him and while Leonard was listening in the hall, got her to reveal her conniving plan to string Leonard along until something better came along. Leonard kicked her out and Sheldon made him go talk to Penny. When Leonard returned, he was happy, shocked, ashamed of his actions regarding Priya and scared all at the same time. _

_Leonard and Penny married 2 months later and then spent the next 3 months talking Sheldon into taking Penny's old apartment._

Sheldon looked around his old apartment. The furniture was the same but now it was scattered with toys and pictures of the boys from birth to present and a few of Leonard and Penny and a few of them with the boys. He wasn't sorry about swapping apartments but he liked to pretend he was. Penny's old apartment gave him much more privacy.

Author's Note – Thanks so much for your reviews! I love reading what you think!


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 – The Chance Encounter Reoccurrences**

Saturday, the twins woke up bright and early. Penny managed to open 1 eye to see that it was just after 6am and groaned. Sheldon wasn't going to help her this morning since the night before was spent with Leonard and the other guys having a night out with Wil Wheaton and some of their other friends from Caltech.

But he would be by for an early lunch to feed the boys and put them down for their nap, so Penny could go to the park and get the decorations set up for the party. When the boys woke up from their nap, Sheldon would then bring them to the park.

At 2:30, Sheldon went into the boys' room and saw they were already starting to stir. "Time to party at the park guys." He said softly, reaching out and gently shaking one little foot sticking out of the comforter. Within seconds, both boys were wide awake, jumping out of bed and running towards the front door.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Sheldon yelled out to stop them, chasing them into the living room and pulling out a sheet of paper. "You know I got my orders. This short list has to be done before we can leave." Sheldon told them.

Elliot stomped over to Sheldon, a scrawl on his little face, grabbing the list as he continued towards the bathroom. Christian followed quietly behind him and smiled up at Sheldon. "I'm going to take my Paddington Bear to the party."

Sheldon smiled back at him. "You are more than welcome to take your Paddington Bear to the party kiddo. I'm sure he wouldn't want to miss all the fun."

By the time Sheldon had gotten there with the boys, some of the guests had already arrived, mostly kids from Elliot and Christian's preschool along with Howard and Bernadette, who had come early to help Penny get things set up and help with the food.

As the party was about to get started, Raj came rushing up to Penny. "Penny! I am so sorry! I didn't know!" Raj blurted out with a worried expression on his face.

"Sorry about what?" Penny asked. Her face then turned cold and hard when she saw past Raj as his sister walked up with a smug smile on her face.

"What a great party you pulled off for the boys. You must be so proud of them." Priya said, turning to look around. "Too bad Leonard couldn't get back in time for it though." She added with a fake sad look on her face. "But then, maybe he shouldn't be the one here." She said, grinning at Sheldon.

Penny continued to glare at her. "Not that I needed to for my own peace of mind since I already knew for certain, considering I've only had sex with 1 person in the last 6 years, but I had a paternity test done when the boys were 3 months old, so Leonard would have peace of mind and know for certain also. But it's always nice to have a piece of paper stating this. Would you like me to send Sheldon back to the apartment and get it, so I can shove it up your ass?" Penny asked, stepping towards the woman.

There was an awkward silence for the next several seconds as the two women glared at each other.

"Okay, let's get this birthday party started." Howard laughed nervously, pulling Penny away. Raj, also pulled his sister away to have a few words with her.

Penny smiled and announced the party was ready to start and that she had a huge surprise for her boys. She had them stand in front of the crowd of party goers, waiting for the big surprise their mother had promised.

The crowd started to shift, and Christian suddenly sucked in a big breath, held out his arms and burst into tears, clenching and unclenching his hands excitedly.

Elliot turned to where Christian was looking and started yelling at the top of his lungs. "My Daddy! That's my Daddy! My Daddy's here!"

He continued to cry out and began jumping up and down with excitement. When Leonard got a few steps away, Elliot ran to Leonard, jumping into his father's arms when Leonard bent down to scoop the boy up. He continued towards Christian who was still standing in place, crying and reaching out for his father. Leonard scooped Christian up in his other arm and Penny stepped up, giving her husband a kiss, smiling at him.

Everyone was cheering and snapping pictures and welcoming the twins father home.

"That wasn't much of a welcome home kiss if you ask me." Priya mumbled to her brother. "You'd think it would be more of a passionate kiss after being away from each other for months." A sly smile forming across her face as she took a drink of her lemonade.

Raj looked at her with annoyance. "When it comes to things you know nothing about, you should really shut the fuck up." Raj spat out to her.

"What did you say to me?" Priya asked angrily.

"Their 'real' welcome home kiss happened Wednesday, when Leonard got back." He said as he watched the smug look drop from her face. "He got a hotel for the last few nights. Penny went to stay with him while Sheldon watched the boys, so the happy couple could have some alone time. Me and the guys took Leonard out last night for a guy's night. Which is where I was when you showed up to my empty apartment. The whole thing was planned, so they could surprise the boys for their birthday today." He walked away angrily, wishing for once his sister wasn't around for a visit.

Penny and Bernadette laid out an early dinner of hamburgers and hot dogs and all the trimmings. As the guests lined up to eat, Penny noticed a late comer approaching and ran over to great her. "I was starting to think you weren't going to make it." Penny said with a welcoming smile.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I couldn't find which shelter you were in and I think I even went to the wrong park at first." Amy said, smiling. "I hope the boys like their gifts." She said holding up two gift bags.

"Oh, you're just in time. I couldn't wait to see their faces when they saw their dad, so I did that first. Now everyone is sitting around eating hamburgers and hotdogs. Are you hungry? There's plenty of food." Penny said, guiding her to the rented shelter where everyone was inside eating.

As they approached the shelter, Leonard came out with a plate of food for his wife. "I figured you'd be taking care that everyone had a plate, so I got you a plate to walk around with." He told her grinning, handing her a plate with a hamburger and macaroni salad on it. She took the plate and returned the smile. "Hey sweetie, I want you to meet someone. This is our new neighbor, Amy. Amy, this is my husband and the twins' father, Leonard."

Leonard and Amy shook hands and greeted each other warmly. They began to make small talk until Amy spotted someone over Leonard's shoulder approaching them and her jaw dropped open. "Oh, Amy! This is Sheldon. Sheldon, this is our new neighbor, Amy." Penny said, excitedly, watching the pair expectantly.

"You're the new neighbor?" Sheldon asked in surprise.

"You live in my building?" Amy asked at the same time.

They both smiled and chuckled lightly at the same time, not taking their eyes off the other.

"Oh…so...you guys know each other already?" Penny asked, a little confused.

"This is the woman I rear-ended." Sheldon said, a grin forming on his face.

Amy grinning back at him replied. "And this is the guy who rear ended me."

"Oh. Okay. Well…since you guys have already met…my work here is done." Penny said with amusement and pulled her husband away to go back to the shelter.

"I had no idea you were the new neighbor. If I had known, I would've made it a point to meet you as soon as Penny said something." Sheldon said, looking at Amy intensely.

Amy blushed, smiling shyly. "Well, I would've made it a point to meet you as well."

"Are you hungry? We got plenty of food. I can stand in line with you and point out who everyone is since I haven't gotten my plate yet." Sheldon offered, motioning towards the shelter.

"Yeah, that hamburger Penny had looked good." Amy said, following Sheldon to the shelter.

"That's Howard and his wife Bernadette. He's an engineer and she's a microbiologist." Sheldon said pointing to the short couple, as they stood in line with some of the other guests.

"Oh, that sounds interesting. I'd love to talk to her about her work sometime." Amy said. She noted that Howard was one of the men sitting at the Caltech lunch room with Sheldon when she had taken the last pudding cup.

"That's Raj and his sister Priya. She still lives in India but comes out here for business occasionally. She also comes out here to stir trouble. I suspect that's what this visit is about. Causing trouble." Sheldon said, frowning at the woman.

Amy noted that Raj was the other guy in the Caltech lunch room. "What kind of trouble does she cause?" Amy asked.

"Well, for years, whenever she came to town, her and Leonard would hook up. If he was seeing someone, he would break up with them and hook up with Priya guilt free. Then when Priya left town, he'd either get back with the girl he dumped or move on." Sheldon explained, as he started filling his plate with food.

"When we met Penny, Leonard started dating her and after a while, Priya comes flying in and swoops Leonard away, leaving Penny heart broken. That happened twice. The second time, though, Priya was getting transferred and her stay was going to be permanent. A week after Leonard dumped her, Penny found out she was pregnant with the twins." He continued, moving to a table. "She was devastated and heartbroken. She was seriously considering aborting them." Sheldon had bent down to whisper the last part in her ear so others around them didn't hear.

"Around that time, Priya had the nerve to hit on me and I realized what a manipulative…as Penny calls her, slut-bag…she was, and I tricked her into revealing herself to Leonard. He dumped Priya, got back with Penny and I ended up with a smaller apartment." Sheldon said with a shrug.

"Wow!" Amy said, looking at the woman. "So, then she lives here now, and Leonard and Penny actually invited her to the party?" Amy asked, a bit confused.

"Well, it was only for a year and then she went back to India. This visit here was a total surprise. Apparently, she didn't even bother telling Raj she was coming and neither Leonard or Penny would've invited her to this." He said, raising his eyebrows. "And if all these kids weren't around to see it, Penny would kick her ass all the way out of the park."

"So…" Amy started with a grin. "You never considered hitting that?" She teased.

"No." Sheldon said, with contempt. "She's too much of a conniving bitch. And granted, she's smart but not as smart as I like them." He said, looking at Amy intensely. "I find the brain the sexiest part of a woman. Followed by a nice ass." He told her with a smirk. Amy turned to look down at her plate, trying and failing to hide her blushing face.

Sheldon continued pointing various people out to Amy and before long, Penny announced they were going to sing Happy Birthday to the twins and have them blow out their candles. Everyone ate cake and ice cream while watching the boys open their gifts.

After a while, Sheldon and Amy took a walk around the park, sharing things about their work and some of their interests. When they got back, some of the guests were starting to leave. Sheldon and Amy started helping Leonard and Penny get things cleaned up.

"So, you and the new neighbor seem to be hitting it off." Leonard asked his best friend with a grin, looking over at his new neighbor gathering up the boys' gifts.

Sheldon couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, it's been an unexpectedly pleasant surprise." Sheldon said. "But there's something about her I just can't put my finger on. I feel like I've met her before, but I can't figure out where or if I really have. She just seems so familiar." Sheldon said, looking away in thought.

"Well, maybe you saw her speak somewhere or something." Leonard offered. "Too bad you don't have an eidetic memory. Then you'd know if you knew her before or not."

"Yeah, that would be nice to have. For an occasion like this anyway." Sheldon said looking over at her.

After all the guests were gone and the shelter was cleaned up, Sheldon walked Amy to her car.

"Are you doing anything tomorrow?" Sheldon asked her.

Amy's shoulders slumped in disappointment. "Yeah, I'm going to visit my aunt in Bakersfield. But I should be back tomorrow afternoon." Amy said, hoping she hadn't just ruined her chance to go out on a date with him. "What about a rain check?" She asked hopefully.

Sheldon held his phone out to her. "Put your number in my phone and I'll give you a call sometime." He said, smiling. Amy handed her phone to him and took his phone, typing in her number in his contacts as he did the same to her phone. They returned their phones to each other, smiling.

"I'll see you around, Dr. Cooper." Amy said with a wave as she got in her car.

"Definitely, Dr. Fowler. Have a safe trip tomorrow." Sheldon said, smiling down at her, causing the butterflies in Amy's stomach to take flight again.

Sheldon walked to his car to find the Hofstadter family waiting for him. "What are you doing?" He asked confused, as Leonard started buckling Elliot into the car seat.

"Seriously? Bernadette and Howard picked me up, Leonard took a cab and you're the only one from our building that's here with a car." Penny told him, buckling Christian into his car seat. "Now who's the stupid one?" She asked climbing in the back seat to sit in the middle.

Sheldon looked at her in exasperation. "You are because our new neighbor just left. Did you think of asking her for a ride?"

Penny turned towards him again with a smirk on her face. "The question is, genius, did YOU think of asking her for a ride?" She said, pointing a finger at him.

Sheldon tried to hide his own smirk. "I'm working on it."

Thanks so much for following and favoriting and for all your reviews. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 – The Chance Encounter Reoccurrences**

Amy awoke early in the morning for the drive to Bakersfield. She wasn't too fond of this particular Aunt she was going to visit. Thankfully she only had to endure visits to Aunt Martha's for 2 weeks every summer when she was growing up.

She had once heard her father's sisters talking about Amy's Aunt Martha and how similar she was to Amy's mother, Kate. Amy wondered what her life would have been like if her mother had survived the car accident or if the accident had never happened and she had been raised by her mother. Someone very similar to her Aunt Martha. Someone Amy couldn't stand to be around but only tolerated. She had shuttered at the thought and then felt guilty.

Amy arrived in Bakersfield shortly before 10am and pulled into the driveway of her Aunt's 2 story Victorian house. She shut the engine off and sighed heavily. Hopefully the next 6 hours would go by quickly.

As she walked up the concrete sidewalk to the front porch, she heard many voices and laughter coming from the house. She looked around and for the first time, noticed several cars parked on the street that normally wouldn't be there.

She slowly walked up to the front door, not knowing exactly what to expect. Was this the Sunday she had told her Aunt Martha she would be visiting? Yes, she was sure of it. Maybe her aunt had forgotten and had invited friends over to play bridge or something. Amy could only hope.

She knocked on the wooden door and a few minutes later, Bella, her aunt's maid answered the door.

"Oh, Miss Amy! You're here!" Bella said with a sympathetic smile that Amy caught.

'_Nope. Not getting out of this one easy.'_ Amy mumbled to herself.

As she entered the entry hall, she heard voices coming from the parlor to the right and she slowly walked to the wide opening. As she stood in the doorway looking into the parlor, her heart shot up into her throat and Amy froze, wanting to run away in a panic.

In the room with her Aunt Martha were several of her aunts' friends, her other two aunts from Modesto and 6 men sitting in various chairs and loveseats crammed into the large room.

One man was standing with his back towards Amy. His dark blond hair was slicked back and before he could turn to see her, Amy wanted to run and jump in her car and drive away. But when he did, Amy sighed with relieve instead. The young man had warm brown eyes and a shy smile and seemed uncomfortable to be there.

"Amy dear!" Aunt Martha called out from the back of the room, quickly making her way towards the entrance where her niece was standing. Her long skirt brushed lightly on the floor and only the tips of her black shoes poked out as she walked towards Amy. "Come in and meet everyone dear." She said, taking Amy by the arm and pulling her into the room.

"I've decided since you're living here in California now, it will be my duty to find you a nice suitable young man to marry and start a family with."

Amy looked at the men in the room, her jaw hanging open. She turned to her Aunt, her mouth still gaping open. "Aunt Martha, I…" Amy began.

"Tsk. Tsk dear, you shush now. I know what's best for you dear. You're now in your early 30's and still haven't landed a man and last I was told, you weren't even in the market after that last boy you dated."

Amy shut her mouth into a thin line and glared at her aunt. "That's because the last time I saw him, he beat me so severely, out of the blue and for no reason whatsoever I might add, that it landed me in the hospital for 2 weeks. Did it ever occur to you that I was trying to get over that horrific experience?" Amy spat at her, causing everyone in the room to look down uncomfortably.

Amy's other two aunts, watched their younger sister with curiosity. Aunt Rebecca and Aunt Eva were the two older sisters of Martha and Kate. Rebecca and Eva were much more laid back then their two younger sisters and Amy enjoyed her visits with them immensely.

She would always spend the first two weeks with Martha because she wanted to get it over with and she would spend her remaining two weeks with the older sisters. At least that way, when she went back home to Boston, she would be in a much better mood.

Ignoring her, Martha turned and walked to the center of the room, turning to face Amy again. "Well, it's been over 2 years. You should be getting yourself out there again and since you haven't, I've taken the liberty to do it for you." She stated briskly, her mouth forming a thin line.

She addressed the men in the room, waving her arm towards them. "Now allow me to introduce you to everyone."

She walked to the nearest man that Amy had mistaken for Owen when she first walked in. "This is Robert…"

"Aunt Martha." Amy stated sharply. "First of all, I just moved back here a little more than a month ago. I've known for some time that I would be moving out here so chose not to date anyone out in Boston specifically for that reason. Why start a relationship with someone knowing I would be moving clear across the country? Am I right gentlemen?" Amy asked them, surprising everyone. The men all shook their head in agreement.

Amy took a deep breath, stepping further into the room. "I have every intention of getting myself out into the dating game as soon as I get settled into my new apartment and my new job." She stated looking directly at her Aunt Martha. "In fact, I turned down a date for this afternoon, so I could come and visit with my aunts."

Martha snorted in derision. "No offense dear, but your judgement in men is lacking. Just look at the last man you dated and what he did to you." Martha said, looking at Amy disapprovingly.

"Martha dear, I believe you were the one who arranged Amy's first date with Thomas. You said you had a friend in Boston who had a son around Amy's age who was also into science." Eva stated, a slight smile on her face as she looked at her younger sister. "Six months later, we end up flying out there to visit Amy in the hospital after he viciously attacked her."

Rebecca, who had remained silent up to this point, quietly stood up, walked over to her niece, hugging her gently. "I'm sorry we dragged you away from your date, dear. I'm sure he's a very nice young man. Why don't you go on home and see if you can't salvage that date with him? You can come visit with Eva and I when you get a chance." She turned, giving a look towards Martha. "Maybe we'll invite Martha to join us."

Amy smiled at the kind older woman. "Thank you, Aunt Rebecca. But I already told him I had other plans. We're going out later this week. Thank you anyway. I can at least stay for lunch and visit with you all for a while since I'm already here."

Rebecca gave her niece a gently squeeze. "You are such a sweet girl. Your father and his sisters did a good job raising you." Rebecca smiled widely at the younger sister. "Don't you agree Martha? |

Martha looked up, giving her older sister a forced smile. "Yes, he did. But my previous statements on that particular matter still stands." Martha stated sharply and walked towards Amy.

Rebecca and Eva shared a look, Eva rolling her eyes and shaking her head. "And once again, we don't agree that taking a 2-year-old from her father for no reason at all after her mother just died in a car accident to raise her ourselves was a good idea." Rebecca stated sharply herself. "It's been 30 years. Let it go."

Before too long, the large group gathered into the dining room. The 5 gentlemen all sat around introducing themselves to Amy and telling her what they did for a living and where they had gone to school. Amy, sitting at one end of the table, told them she was a neuroscientist who had just been transferred to Caltech. The conversation was pleasant for all and the three sisters sat at the other end of the table, observing the young people and their conversation.

"I don't understand why she can't just choose from one of these nice young men." Martha stated in a low voice, as she sat at the head of the table.

Eva, sitting to Martha's left, laughed lightly. "Did you hear her talking about the man she was supposed to have a date with this afternoon? Sheldon, I think she said his name was, isn't that right, Rebecca?" She asked her sister sitting directly across from her and to Martha's right.

Rebecca was watching Amy, a small smile on her face. "Rebecca." Eva said a bit louder, getting her sisters attention.

Rebecca turned to acknowledge her sisters. "Oh, I think she's already smitten with him for sure. Her eyes light up and they have a sparkle to them whenever she says his name. She has a slight blush when she mentions him." She said, taking a sip of her iced tea.

Martha scrawled, crossing her arms. "Well, I don't know why she can't give one of these nice gentlemen a chance." She whined.

Both Eva and Rebecca sighed. "For starters, you're a couple of weeks late. Sheldon apparently beat them to the prize. And second, these young men live 2 hours from her. Sheldon already lives in the same apartment building." Eva smirked.

Martha said nothing as she glared at her sister.

After another hour of conversation, Amy hugged her three aunts and got in her car to head home to Pasadena. Her visit had not been at all what Amy had expected. She wasn't at all surprised at Aunt Martha's antics and had been extremely grateful her other two aunts had been there to step in. But all in all, her visit at her Aunt Martha's house was not bad.

She made it back to Pasadena by 3:00. A bit earlier than she expected but still probably late to do anything with Sheldon. His original idea for their date was an all-day adventure. She debated on calling him, but she had spent 4 hours of her day in a car and she just didn't feel like getting into it again.

She decided she would see him at work later in the week. Maybe she would make them a homemade brown sack lunch and take it to him at his office and they could have a nice quiet lunch alone to make up for her bailing on him to visit her aunts.

When she got to her apartment, she went through some pamphlets and booklets she had picked up about Pasadena to see what things she could do for a couple of hours in walking distance before grabbing some take-out food to eat at home.

After looking through several, she decided to just leave and start walking and see what she could find. After about 20 minutes of walking, she came across a bookstore and decided to go in and browse.

She loved books and soon got lost in browsing the titles and picking out a couple that she wanted to purchase. She finished in one row of books and walked around the corner to the next row of books and stopped short, smiling at the tall man in front of her.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 – The Chance Encounter Reoccurrences**

His back was turned towards her, a small plastic shopping basket sat on the floor next to him, several books inside. She quietly walked up to him and tapped him on his shoulder. He turned slowly to see who had tapped him and he smiled gently when he saw her. "Well, hello. I thought you were going to Bakersfield today to visit your Aunts." He said.

"I did. I came back a bit sooner than I had planned." She said, shrugging her shoulders.

"So how was your visit?" He asked, taking her books and placing them in his basket so she wouldn't have to carry them around.

"Oh." She said looking for the right words. "Surprising and yet…not surprising." Amy said with a grin. "My Aunt Martha decided it was time for me to get back out into the dating scene after being single for so long and she arranged for me to meet a bunch of, what she considers, eligible bachelors during a luncheon at her house."

Sheldon chuckled at the scenario. "And did you tell her you turned down a date to go to this …dating game?" He asked with a teasing grin.

"Actually, I asked for a rain check and yes I did." Amy said smiling up at him. They continued to walk down the row of bookshelves as they talked.

"Would you like to have that rain check date now?" Sheldon asked. He hoped she would say yes. He was dying to find an excuse to kiss her.

"Yes, I would. Although it's too late to go to the zoo so what did you have in mind?" Amy asked, smiling up at him.

Sheldon looked down at his watch and saw that it was almost dinner time. "Well, if you're hungry, we can go out to dinner." He offered.

"Yeah, I am hungry. That sounds like a good idea." Amy said, biting down on her bottom lip nervously. Her heart raced and the butterflies in her stomach took flight when she saw him looking down at her lips as his eyes slightly dilated.

After purchasing their books, the couple walked down the street, making a couple of turns on the way until they came to a cute little restaurant.

"I found this place last year." Sheldon said. "They've got great food! Reminds me of home." He explained, smiling down at her.

As they walked in, a short middle-aged waitress came over and sat them down at a table in the back. After looking over the menu, and placing their orders, Amy looked around.

"This place is pretty cute. If the food is as good as you say, I'll be coming here more often."

Sheldon smiled at her. "Well, I've been coming here at least once a month for a year or so and I haven't found anything on their menu that I haven't liked. It reminds me of my mother and grandmother's cooking.

"Where are you from?" Amy asked, taking a drink of the iced tea the waitress had sat down moments ago.

"Texas. Galveston, Texas. What about you?" He asked.

"I was actually born here in California and raised by my parents for the first 2 years of my life until my mother's car accident." Amy said, sadly. "My dad said it was a spur of the moment errand. She was originally going to go the next day but suddenly decided out of the blue to do her errand then. I sometimes wonder how different my life would've been if she had lived."

They sat quietly for a moment.

"That reminds me of my pop-pop and his heart attack. He decided at the last minute to go visit a friend of his in the hospital. He originally wasn't going to go but then suddenly decided to go. It's a good thing he did because he had a massive heart attack while he was there. He wouldn't have made it if he had been at home."

"How old were you?" Amy asked.

"Just 5 years old. Right before Christmas." Sheldon answered.

He took a drink of his tea and chuckled. "He used to say it was a good thing he was already there at the hospital and survived the heart attack or my mother would've turned me into an obnoxious little shit nobody wanted to be around. She was always trying to baby me and protect me and smother me because of how smart I was but he would step in and tell her she needed to stop coddling me and let me grow."

It was Amy's turn to chuckle. "My dad's family said the same thing about my mother. Of course, they didn't say it to me directly, but I'd hear them talking among themselves that if she had lived, she would've ruined me. Dad said she was constantly hoovering over me, not letting me be a normal toddler. He told me later that she had these crazy ideas about other kids being bad influences, the girl scouts turning girls into street walkers and crazy conspiracies like that. I honestly shudder at where I'd be now if she had lived. Would I still be a neuroscientist?"

"Well, I don't see why not." Sheldon said, shrugging. "I believe there's an infinite number of universes with an infinite number of us in them, I'm sure in some of them, you're a neuroscientist. And I'm sure in others, we've already met."

A weird feeling of recognition came over both of them but quickly passed before either could pinpoint where they could've met before.

"I'm sorry." Sheldon began. "I keep getting this feeling that I've met you before, but I can't remember for the life of me where."

Amy's eyes grew wide. "I feel the same way about you!" She said excitedly. "but I've never been to Texas. Have you been to Northern California or Boston?"

"I've been all over the country. Maybe we simply saw each other's lectures at some point and just don't remember…. maybe, but that doesn't seem right. We met somewhere." He mused, looking at her intensely. Amy looked right back at him with just as much intensity. It was on the edge of their minds and then it was suddenly gone when they jumped from the loud crash coming from the kitchen and a man yelling about the "damn shelf nobody will fix."

Moments later, their waitress appeared with their food. The couple dug into their meals and spoke very little as they ate.

"Mmmm." Amy hummed in satisfaction, sitting back in her seat. "That was amazing! I'm glad we came here to eat. Now I know why we passed all those other places." She said smiling.

"Yeah this place is the best." Sheldon said. "And their peach cobbler is the best. Even better than my mom's but not by much. Oh, and don't tell her that if you ever happen to meet her." He said with a mischievous grin.

The waitress soon came around again to leave their check and two small containers in a bag. When she walked away, Amy pointed to them with a questioning look towards Sheldon.

"Peach cobbler. Never leave here without it. Unless, of course, it's during their morning schedule."

"And there's only 1 check?" Amy asked, turning towards where the waitress had gone.

"My treat." Sheldon stated. "I insist."

"Then next time, it will be my treat." Amy said, raising her eyebrows at him sternly, suddenly realizing she agreed to going out with him again. _'Would he want to go out with her again?'_ She wondered.

"Deal." Sheldon said, answering her thoughts and smiling back at her blushing face, also realizing what she had done.

After paying for their meals, Sheldon carried their books and Amy carried their takeout cobbler.

"There's a series of lectures this Friday night at the Pasadena City Community College if you're interested in going to that." Sheldon said as they walked down the sidewalk.

"Oh, that sounds interesting." Amy answered.

Just then a group of young teenage boys came running around the corner, nearly running into the couple. Sheldon reached over, taking Amy's hand and held it for the rest of their walk to their apartment building.

When they walked into the building, Sheldon let go of her hand and walked to the elevator. "The trick is to see where the car is and if it's where you need to get on, it's faster than taking the stairs. But if not, the stairs are faster." After he pushed the button he looked up and saw the 5 light up. "Nope, let's take the stairs." He said, taking her hand again and started walking up the steps.

When they got to the 3rd floor, they smiled at each other nervously. The butterflies in Amy's stomach took flight as she saw Sheldon's eyes looking at her with that intense way he had.

"I enjoyed our time together this evening. I'm looking forward to seeing you again on Friday night." Sheldon said quietly.

"Well, I'm sure we'll see each other at work this week." Amy said hopefully.

Sheldon shook his head, disappointment on his face. "I have a colleague I'm working with this week and the days I teach a class, I barely get time to eat. Maybe we can grab a bite after work sometime." He said hopefully.

"I'd love that." Amy said, smiling.

"Good." Sheldon said, returning her smile.

He leaned towards her slowly and she took a small step forwards and looked up at him to meet his kiss. Her lips felt soft against his, one hand found the small of her back and he pulled her closer against him and she softly moaned, unconsciously wrapping her arm around his back.

His tongue slid lightly across her bottom lip and she opened her mouth, granting him access. As their tongues glided slowly against each other, their kiss quickly became heated and intense. Sheldon wanted more but knew it would be too soon for her. And if he was being honest, too soon for him as well.

There was something about her. A spark that he couldn't define. He wanted her. But he also wanted to take his time with her. He wanted…

A tiny giggle broke through his thoughts followed by a faint soft shushing. Elliot. The Hofstadter's were passing by them on the 3rd floor. He quickly took note of their position and where his hands were. He was rather shocked to realize that he had her pinned firmly against her door and he moved his hands up to the small of her back. He was surprised that they had been firmly on her ass and that he had been about to hike her leg up over his hip.

The Hofstadter's slowly walked into their apartment building, each parent carrying their carbon copy. Penny reached the elevator first and adjusted Christian in her arms before she reached for the button and groaned when the 5 lit up. Leonard, seeing this, headed straight for the stairs and silently started climbing, his sons head plopped heavily on his shoulder.

As the couple turned the corner on the 3rd floor, they saw their neighbors, heavily making out. Christian's head shot up and his mouth dropped open. Smiling, Penny quietly signaled him to be quiet.

Leonard, hiding the smirk on his face, placed his fingers on the lips of his dark-haired son as he was about to speak up. As the family climbed the stairs to their 4th floor apartment, Elliot's giggle escaped his lips. Penny quietly shushed him, trying to contain her own giggle as the family disappeared around the corner to the 4th floor.

He reluctantly pulled away from her and they stood staring at each other for several seconds. He finally cleared his throat. "If I don't see you at work later this week, I'll text you to finalize the plans for the lectures." He said, starring down at her. He took a step back, having a strong urge to pin her against the door and take her right there in the hall.

Amy took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. She had gotten as lost in the kiss as he had and she had felt him against her. She wondered if she would've stopped him if things had gone further than they had. She had a strange feeling she wouldn't have and it sent a delightful and unusual chill up her spine.

What was happening to her? She was never like this around any of the guys she had slept with before. Except the one she had lost her virginity to. She had always wanted to take her time with them, rather than jumping in bed the first chance she got. But Sheldon was different. She wanted him.

"Okay." She was finally able to say, softly. "I'll see you later this week." She pulled her keys out of her purse and turned to let herself into her apartment, smiling back at him as she closed the door.

**A/N – Thank you so much for sticking with this story. I know it's probably slow moving but it won't be for long. I would love to hear what you think so far. Any and all reviews are welcome!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 – The Chance Encounter Reoccurrences**

Amy and Sheldon went through the week with only a few text messages with each other and one group outing. Amy had joined the group for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory Tuesday evening and once again, the two ended their outing with a long passionate kiss at her door, that Sheldon made sure to keep control of.

Wednesday, Amy went to the cafeteria for a late lunch. The place was nearly empty except for a few people scattered around the room, quietly eating their lunches.

She wished she could have lunch with Sheldon but he would be working on a project for the next few weeks with a couple of colleagues. In the meantime, she would have to take her lunch breaks when her work permitted it.

When Amy walked into the cafeteria, she noticed one girl in particular and slowly approached her. The woman looked up from her book and smiled at Amy and greeted her instantly.

"Hi! Dr. Fowler…right?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, hi. Do you mind if I join you?" Amy asked.

"Oh, of course not." Alex motioned towards the seat across from her. "Please do!"

"And please, call me Amy." Amy smiled back at the young woman.

Amy sat down and the two women began to talk about their work in science. Amy told her about her studies and work in Neurobiology and Alex told her about her studies in physics and her upcoming wedding to her fiancé and how she got the job with Dr. Cooper.

"So how did you and Dr. Cooper meet?" Alex asked her.

"I was pulling out of the parking lot here a few weeks ago and he rear ended me." Amy said, with a light laugh. "We got into a heated discussion about his lack of driving skills and my lack of direction and we ended up running into each other the next day in the hallway here. Literally running right into each other. I ended up on my rear end." Amy said, both women laughing.

"We're going out again this Friday night to a series of lectures at the Pasadena City Community College." Amy said, blushing, a small smile on her face.

Alex grinned back at her. "FYI...he likes you too. But you didn't hear that from me."

Amy smiled at that bit of information. She really did like Sheldon but the one thing that bothered her was the feeling she couldn't shake. She knew him from somewhere. But for the life of her, she couldn't remember from where.

XXXXXXX

As soon as Dr. Cooper's name was mentioned, Dr. Greene stopped reading her book and slowly lifted her eyes to look at the two women sitting just in front of her. Dr. Cooper's assistant, Alex, was sitting with her back towards her.

Dr. Greene slowly and casually placed her book down on the table and picked up her phone, quickly going to the camera and discreetly taking pictures of Dr. Fowler.

When she was finished taking pictures, she picked her book back up again and pretended to read it but quietly sat and listened to Miss Jensen and Dr. Fowler's conversation. And in particular, Dr. Fowler and Dr. Coopers plans for Friday night.

XXXXXXX

Sheldon stood in front of his white board, listening to his 2 colleagues arguing about the formula they should use.

"How can you possibly think that's going to work?" Kripke asked the tall red-head woman in exasperation. "The math doesn't work."

The woman stood with her hands on her hip, glaring back at him as he spoke.

"It does work if you know how to add correctly. Sheldon, tell this pervert my math is correct." Ramona demanded, crossing her arms, continuing to glare at Barry Kripke.

"Pervert?" Kripke asked, his eyes growing wide. "You weren't complaining a few years ago." He said, shooting Sheldon a grin.

Ramona turned and glared at him, crossing her arms. "Don't flatter yourself. I'm a scientist. I needed to collect enough data to determine how bad in bed you actually were."

Kripke turned back to the whiteboard, "You still enjoyed it."

Sheldon began writing on the board, continuing to ignore both of them, hoping he wouldn't be brought up into the conversation. But he had no such luck.

"Sheldon was better in bed than you were." Ramona replied to Kripke.

Sheldon stopped writing and hung his head down. Kripke turned sharply to look at him.

"When did you get suckered into her bed and why didn't you tell me about it?" Barry asked.

"Five years ago, and it was just once." He turned to face them both, looking at Ramona but directing his comment to Kripke. "But unlike you, I was smart enough to realize that she was just trying to steal my breakthrough in showing how neutrinos emerge from a string-net condensate."

"Yeah, well, she didn't succeed in stealing my idea either. I knew the whole time what she was all about." Barry grinned at her, tapping his index finger to the side of his head. "I was just stringing her along until I found some other hot chick."

Ramona glared at him. "I wasn't trying to steal anything. You just suck in bed. And you couldn't handle me. Sheldon knows how good I was." She said, grinning at the taller man.

Sheldon turned back to the whiteboard and began writing again. "If you were any good, I would've come back for seconds."

Barry burst out laughing while Ramona glared at both of them.

"You have no ass to speak of. There's literally nothing back there to grab. You're too skinny. I'm not all that into red heads. You're too…" Sheldon began listing off things he hadn't liked about her.

"I don't have to listen to this!" Ramona screamed. She turned and stormed out of Sheldon's office, slamming the door behind her.

Sheldon sighed, taking the eraser and wiping the board clean. "Well, now that she's finally gone, we can get some work done. Why Gablehouser thought it would be a good idea to have her on this project, I'll never know." Sheldon muttered.

Barry looked at him with amusement. "It's because she slept with him. How do you not know that?"

Sheldon looked at him with surprise, his mouth gabbed open. "Damn, she'll sleep with anybody to get ahead, won't she?"

XXXXXXX

Friday –

The building that Sheldon and the Hofstadter's lived in was owned by the same man that owned several apartment buildings within a 5-mile radius. All together there were 9 buildings, most of them close together so that it made it possible to go from building to building via the roof if one had a long enough board or plank to place between the buildings.

Dr. Greene walked into the apartment building that sat behind the one on Los Robles, quickly taking the elevator to the 5th floor. As soon as the elevator doors opened, she quickly ran up the stairs to the roof of the building.

Years ago, she had hidden a long wide plank that she used to cross to the building on Los Robles from the roof without being seen by anyone that lived in the Los Robles apartment building.

After unlocking the roof door of Dr. Cooper's apartment building, she quietly made her way down to the 5th floor, listening to any sign of the tenants on that floor. Being Friday night, she was sure the Mileti's were working. The woman owned a bar just a few blocks away and her husband was a bouncer at another bar a couple of miles further away.

The tenants in the other apartment on the 5th floor were also probably out for the evening. She wasn't sure what Frank did for a living but Alicia was a struggling actress and was probably sleeping with someone to get a part in a movie or TV show.

The main obstacle Dr. Greene had to worry about was the family in 4A.

She finally made her way to the 4th floor, standing on the steps next to Dr. Cooper's apartment, listening for any signs of the family in 4A. She could hear the two little boys that lived there giggling loudly.

Dr. Greene shuttered with revulsion. She absolutely hated children. They were too loud, too messy and too much of a headache.

After a few more minutes of listening and waiting to make sure she wouldn't be seen, she quickly picked the lock of Dr. Cooper's apartment and silently opened the door, scurrying inside and shutting the door behind her.

XXXXXXX

Leonard sat down heavily on the couch, exhausted from playing with his two sons.

"Thank God it's Friday and the weekend's here." He said, glancing at his wife who was drying the last of the dishes.

She smiled at him as the twins joyfully ran out of their room and into the living room, jumping on the couch next to their father, causing him to flinch.

"Let's play again Daddy." Christian said, smiling.

"Oh, Daddy needs to rest this one out buddy." Leonard said, still trying to catch his breath. "How about we play a video game now or a board game or something else that doesn't require us to run around the apartment."

"Let's just play hide and seek without Daddy for a while. Then he can play with us again." Elliott said. Christian's shoulders dropped and his face fell.

"I don't want to play hide and seek anymore. I want to play video games with Daddy." Christian whined. He knew if he agreed to play hide and seek, he would keep being "it."

XXXXXXX

Owen sat in the middle of the lecture hall in the section closest to the door. He looked through the pamphlet he received upon entering the building. He had been interested in these lectures as soon as he had heard about them from other colleagues.

As he was reading, he heard a familiar laugh. His head snapped at attention and he scanned the people in front of him. He smiled when he saw Dr. Fowler several rows ahead of him. But his smile fell and his anger rose when he saw who she was with.

Sheldon had lied to him at the bar about Amy. He was trying to steal her away from him once again. But this time, he would make sure Sheldon Cooper wouldn't win.

He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms, glaring at the cozy couple. He would wait for an opportunity to make his move.

XXXXXXX

Dr. Greene entered the living room. The moon shown through the large sliding glass door that led to the small balcony of the tiny apartment. Because it was easy to see with the moon and a small flashlight she had, she kept the lights off. Dr. Cooper hadn't known this woman, Dr. Amy Fowler, for very long so there wouldn't be much to search for in the living room.

She went to the bedroom instead to see if there may be any clues in there as to whether they were sleeping with each other yet. She found condoms in his nightstand. They were still unopened.

Looking in the trashcans, she didn't find any used ones. She quickly looked in the dresser drawers but found nothing that didn't belong to him. She went to the bathroom and again, found only his belongings.

The last place she needed to search was the closet. As she opened the door, she heard the front door open and she quickly stepped into the closet and silently shut the door.

XXXXXXX

"But Elliott...that's not fair. I'm always it." Christian whined softly, squeezing his Paddington bear close to his chest. "I don't want to play hide and seek anymore. I want to play something else."

"Just one more time." Elliott begged. "Please Christian! I promise one more time and then we'll play what you want to play."

Christian looked down and slowly walked to the cream-colored chair. "Okay, but this is the last time." He said, hiding his face in the cushion and began to count.

Elliott ran to the front door, grabbing the single key that was in the bowl. He ran out of the apartment, across the hall and unlocked the door to Sheldon's apartment.

When Christian was done counting slowly to ten, he raised his head up, looking at the open door. He then looked back at his mother sitting at the kitchen island, smiling at him.

"He sure does make it easy to find him, doesn't he?" Penny asked, still smiling at him.

"Yeah, it's boring. That's why I don't like playing this game with him. He's too easy to find." He said, slowly walking to the front door to go and find his brother. He knew exactly where Elliott was. Hiding in Uncle Sheldon's bedroom closet.

XXXXXXX

After the audience clapping died down, Owen saw Amy lean over and whisper something in Sheldon's ear. She immediately got up and worked her way to the aisle and headed up towards the entrance of the lecture hall. As soon as she was out of sight, Owen got up and headed for the same entrance, taking a chance, heading for the nearest restrooms. He stood outside of the women's restroom and waited.

As soon as Amy finally walked out, he reached out and grabbed her by the arm, swinging her around and slammed her against the wall, knocking the breath out of her. He leaned in and got in her face, glaring at her.

"You don't have time to go out with me but you have time to go out with Sheldon Cooper? What kind of game are you playing with me, Amy?" Owen whispered angrily.

Amy was so shocked at seeing Owen there and of his actions towards her that she didn't even think to question how he knew who Sheldon was.

**A/N – I'm so sorry I didn't update earlier this weekend but with the Christmas holiday, I've been super busy! Well, there's two cliffhangers for you…lol. Any guesses as to who Dr. Greene could be? Thanks so much for sticking with the story. I love all your reviews! Please don't hesitate to write one! I'll update again soon!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11 – The Chance Encounter Reoccurrences**

Elliott quickly unlocked and opened the door to Uncle Sheldon's apartment and ran his hand along the wall to flip the lights on. Even though he was more outgoing and daring than his twin, he was still afraid of the dark too.

He looked around the living room and the little kitchen but there was no sign of Uncle Sheldon. He turned to his right and looked towards the bedroom, where the light was off.

He quickly and quietly went to the bedroom, flipping the switch to turn the light on and started to head towards the closet but then stopped. He always hid in Uncle Sheldon's closet and Christian would always find him right away. He needed a new spot to hide. Under the bed! He silently got on his hands and knees and scooted under the bed just as the front door was opening. He put his hand over his mouth to keep from giggling and giving himself away.

XXXXXXX

Amy finally caught her breath and twisted her arm that was being held firmly.

"Let go of me!" She demanded, jerking her arm again with even more determination.

Owen reluctantly let go of her arm but continued to glare at her.

"Are you going to answer my question? What are you doing here with another man? And why won't you agree to go out to dinner with me? Why are you ignoring my calls?" Owen demanded.

Amy instantly became furious with his interrogations and pushed him away so she could have some space between them.

"First of all, who I go out with is none of your damn business. We are not dating, we are not exclusive, we are not anything. I can see who I want to, when I want to and where I want to." Amy said through gritted teeth.

"Second, I don't want to go out with you. You keep following me around, you won't stop badgering me about going out with you and frankly, I'm not interested in you at all. You're creepy and you always seem to be stalking me. How did you even know I was going to be here anyway?" Amy asked angrily.

Owen took a step back, holding his hands up in defense. "I had no idea you were going to be here. I heard about these lectures from colleagues at UCLA. Like you and Sheldon, I also enjoy science and everything about it." He spat out with annoyance.

Amy looked at Owen curiously. "How do you know Sheldon?"

Owen looked at her for a moment, not quite knowing how to respond to that. Did she seriously not know where _she_ knew Sheldon from or was she just messing with him? He would have to pay Sheldon a visit later to see if he knew who Amy was. Was he playing with her, not revealing to her that they had known each other before or did he genuinely not remember either? Maybe if they both didn't remember, Owen still had a shot with Amy before they figured it out.

Owen simply smiled at her. "He's a well-known physicist and I've read his papers." Owen said honestly.

After running into Sheldon at the bar weeks ago, he had researched the man he had gone to school with and was rather impressed with his work in physics.

Amy looked back at him skeptically. She didn't completely believe him. She was sure that he had been following her and had seen them together previously, but she wasn't going to say anything. At least not yet. But she was going to watch her back now.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get back to my date. And don't follow me again or I'll get a restraining order." She threatened, glaring back at him as she walked away.

XXXXXXX

Christian opened the front door to Uncle Sheldon's apartment and was glad his twin was just as afraid of the dark as he was, even though Elliott would never admit it. The lights were on in the living room and in the bedroom. Christian smiled.

"Too easy." He mumbled to himself.

He walked to the entrance of the bedroom and slowly started walking towards the closet when it began to open. Christian stopped, the smile dropping from his face when he saw the tall red headed woman step out of the closet and look down at him. She seemed surprised for a second to see him but then her eyes narrowed angrily.

"What the hell are you doing in here? This isn't your place" She said angrily. She moved in a flash and grabbed hold of Christian's arm, pulling him closer to her before he could even answer. Not that he would have. This was a stranger and he didn't talk to strangers.

"I asked you a question. Answer it." She demanded, squeezing his arm tighter, digging her nails into it.

Tears welled up in Christian's eyes and he struggled to catch his breath. Where was Elliott? Did this lady closet monster eat him? Was she going to eat him next?

The lady closet monster's face twisted in disgust as she looked down at the floor and back to his face. She quickly let go of his arm and suddenly, Christian felt the side of his face sting sharply and he slammed against the bathroom door, crumbling to the floor. He struggled to take a breath when he saw Elliott under the bed, his eyes wide with fear and his finger to his lip, signaling for Christian to be quiet. Christian stayed still, pretending to be asleep, tears seeping through his tightly closed eyes.

Elliott watched from under the bed, as the lady closet monster walked over to Christian, standing there for a few seconds. He held his breath, waiting to see what she would do. Was she going to hit him again? Was she going to kick him? Was she going to eat him?

"Fucking brat." She mumbled softly, but loud enough for Elliott to hear.

He watched as she turned and quickly walked out of the bedroom and towards the front door. Elliott had to shift his body a little and lift the bed skirt slightly so he could see if she walked out of the apartment or stayed. He sighed with relief when she walked out of the apartment.

He scurried out from under the bed and went to Christian.

"Christian, are you okay?" He asked, shaking him gently.

Christian kept his eyes closed. "Is the closet monster gone?" He whispered.

"Yeah, she's gone." Elliott answered. "Are you okay? I saw her hit you in the face."

"I peed my pants." Christian said, finally opening his eyes, looking at his twin as the tears fell down his cheeks. "I want mommy."

Elliott started to get up but Christian grabbed his arm and screamed.

"No! Don't leave me here! The closet monster will come back and get me!" He cried out, raising up to a sitting position.

Elliott got up, holding Christian's arms, helping him to his feet. They both rushed out of Sheldon's apartment, not bothering to turn the lights off.

XXXXXXX

She sat in her car, breathing heavily. She could've sworn she had heard the door open and close a second time. She had assumed the child had changed his mind and left the apartment. She had seen him enter the bedroom through the slits of the closet door and turn the lights…. The child had dark hair. But the one she had confronted when she exited the closet was blond.

She closed her eyes as the rage rose up. Where had the dark-haired boy gone to? Did he see anything? Did he see her? She tried to calm herself down, willing the panic that was trying to rise up, to still. She couldn't afford to panic. There was too much at stake. There was also too much at stake for her to make careless mistakes like the one she made tonight. If she had not been caught off guard, she could've taken care of the situation much better. She should've waited before exiting the closet.

But what was done was done. No one had seen her enter or exit the building or even the apartment. She hadn't spoken to Dr. Cooper or anyone associated with him in over 3 years. There was very little chance anyone would suspect her so she just needed to play it cool and continue to stay in the background and quietly watch and listen.

XXXXXXX

Leonard ran out of the apartment and rushed down the stairs and down to the lobby as fast as he could, hoping to catch the bitch that had attacked his child. But the only person he ran into was Mrs. Grossinger in 2A and of course, her stupid dog that started yapping the moment Leonard entered the lobby and Mrs. Vartabedian that lived across from Amy.

"Hey! Did either of you…could you please shut that damn dog up for a minute?" Leonard said angrily, trying to catch his breath.

"Excuse me? How dare you talk to my…" Mrs. Grossinger began.

Leonard reached out and wrapped his hand around the little dog's snout.

"Someone broke into Sheldon's apartment and when the boys went in there, the intruder attacked Christian. Now did either of you see anyone leave just a few minutes ago?" Leonard asked, slowly releasing the dog.

The dog immediately started yapping again but instantly stopped when Mrs. Grossinger bounced him in her arms, sternly shushing him. "That's enough, Mitzy. Oh, Leonard. I'm so sorry. Is the child alright?" She asked, her demeanor towards her neighbor softening.

"Why, we've been standing here for a good 20 minutes." Mrs. Vartabedian stated, looking at Mrs. Grossinger.

"Yes, we saw no one leave or enter the building at all." Mrs. Grossinger replied. "Have you phoned the police? Was Dr. Cooper injured when the intruder broke in?"

Leonard rubbed his eyes in frustration. "Yes, Penny called the police. They should be here any minute. No, Sheldon isn't home right now and yes Christian is ok, physically. He was just slapped across the face pretty hard and he got knocked down. But what this bitch did is just going to make him far worse around strangers."

"Well, I thought the intruder would have been a man." Mrs. Grossinger said. "How can you be sure…"

Leonard looked at her with annoyance. "The boys saw her, Mrs. Grossinger." Leonard said impatiently. "She was tall with shoulder length red hair."

Just then two Pasadena police officers walked into the building. Leonard excused himself from his neighbors and went to talk with the officers, walking them upstairs to the 4th floor a minute later.

XXXXXXX

Amy returned to her seat next to Sheldon. He could see that she was visibly shaking and looking around her nervously.

"Amy, are you alright? What's wrong?" He asked her, looking around himself but not sure what he was looking for.

"Oh, I just ran into that creepy doctor I used to work with at UCLA. He claims he heard about these lectures from other colleagues but I don't know if I believe him or not. He always seems to be following me and it's just creeping me out now." Amy said angrily.

Amy sat back down in her seat and continued. "I knew him when we were in college and he wasn't anywhere near this creepy. He was shy and I knew he had a crush on me but I wasn't interested in him so nothing happened between us. But when I ran into him again when I came back to California…. man, he has really changed and not for the better." She added, shivering from the memory of the encounter.

Sheldon put his arm around her, secretly hoping the guy was watching them. He leaned over and whispered in her ear.

"Well, maybe the next lecture will take your mind off of him. Or we can leave and go find something else to do."

Amy grinned and looked up at him, her lips just inches from his. "I say we go find something else to do. Your place or mine?" She asked with a grin.

He grinned back at her. "Your place is technically closer so…"

Amy grabbed his hand and jumped back out of her seat, pulling Sheldon out of his own seat.

Owen saw them as they left, practically hanging off of each other and he seethed with anger. He was sure they were going to Sheldon's place. He would wait until the lectures were over and pay the happy couple a visit.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12 – The Chance Encounter Reoccurrences**

Sheldon and Amy drove straight to their apartment building, both feeling excited and nervous about the rest of the activities for that evening.

Sheldon wanted to go slow. He didn't want to fall into the short flings and one-night stand traps from the past. He was getting older. Most of his friends were getting married and starting families. He wanted to settle down with someone but she had to be someone he could see himself growing old with.

Amy, on the other hand, was leery about getting into another relationship because of her previous one with Thomas. She had told her family she had no idea why Thomas had attacked her but that had been a lie. He had been violent and verbally abusive with her for their entire 6-month relationship that had quickly escalated.

At first, she didn't say or do anything about it until he had broken her great grandmother's vase in one of his violent outbursts. She had gotten angry and had started yelling at him. He in turn slapped her across the face. He apologized immediately and she forgave him. But with each outburst he had, she fought back until it landed her in the hospital. She stopped dating after she got out of the relationship, unwilling to enter into another one.

When she got the opportunity to move across the country, she saw this as a fresh start and once she had gotten herself settled into her new job and new home, she would try dating again. But this time, she wanted to take things much slower than she had in the past. All of her other past relationships were short lived but the one with Thomas had rattled her. She didn't want another relationship like that.

As Sheldon turned onto Los Robles, he and Amy saw all the blue revolving lights up ahead. Sheldon drove the car a little faster and his stomach filled with dread when he saw that all the police cars were in front of their building.

"I hope it's nothing serious." Amy said, a worried frown on her face.

Sheldon quickly maneuvered his car through the ally to park in the parking garage and the couple ran to the building and sped up the stairs as fast as they could. They were met by several police officers standing around the hallway between the 2 apartments on the 4th floor. Sheldon saw his apartment door and the Hofstadter's doors were wide open. He went to the Hofstadter's first and saw Leonard in the kitchen speaking with a couple of the officers.

Penny was sitting on the cream-colored chair, a twin under each arm. Sheldon couldn't remember a time when he had seen her looking as angry as she did in that moment. As soon as she saw him, she glared even more, pointing a finger at him.

"I want a list of every psychotic bitch you've ever fucked since you've lived here! Starting with the red heads!" She demanded angrily.

Sheldon cocked an eyebrow at her and Amy's jaw dropped in shock at the way Penny spoke.

"Excuse me?" Sheldon asked in disbelief. He looked over at Leonard for an explanation.

"What the hell happened? Why is your wife asking about my sex life?" He asked, a little amused. "Did she get into another fight with one of my ex's again?" He asked with a grin.

Leonard scrunched his eyebrows in confusion for a few seconds and then broke out laughing from the memory until he caught the glare from his wife.

"Yeah, well… no actually…that's not what happened unfortunately. This time…" Leonard began.

"Unfortunately?" Penny asked accusingly.

Leonard looked at her with exasperation. "Oh, come on! You got to admit that fight you had with…what was her name?" He turned, asking Sheldon.

"Pam." Sheldon answered with a grin.

"Yeah, Pam. Now that was hilarious!" Leonard said, looking back at Penny.

Penny looked at him, still angry. "Yeah it was funny at the time but that's not what we're dealing with now, is it?" She spat out.

Sheldon sighed and drew his attention back to Penny. "Okay, what happened?"

"The boys were playing hide and seek. Elliott went to your apartment to hide but instead of hiding in the closet like he always does, he decided to hide under the bed."

Both the boys squirmed in their mother's arms, trying to burrow deeper into her embrace.

Penny glared up at Sheldon and sighed. "When Christian went to your bedroom, he started going towards the closet when the door started to open and some red headed bitch stepped out and attacked him."

Amy gasped and Sheldon clinched his jaw in anger.

"She grabbed his arm, leaving a nasty bruise on it and demanded he tell her why he was there. When he didn't answer, she slapped him so hard across the face, he went flying across the room and slammed into the wall by the bathroom. Elliott saw the whole thing from under the bed."

"She called him a bad word too." Elliott said, sitting up and looking back at Sheldon. "It was the F word and she said he was a brat."

Sheldon slowly walked over to where Penny sat with her sons and crouched down to their level. He reached out and rubbed Elliott's back and Elliott turned towards him again, crawling into Sheldon's arms.

He reached out to pat Christian's leg, knowing that he might not be welcoming to being touched, even by him. He was surprised when Christian didn't flinch or burrow further into his mother. But he wouldn't turn and look at Sheldon either. It brought tears to Sheldon's eyes and his anger at the woman who had hurt this innocent child grew.

"I'm sorry, buddy. I'll make sure this doesn't happen ever again and I'll make sure this bad person pays for what she did, okay?" He said to him softly. He smiled when he saw Christian's head move up and down.

Christian finally looked up when he felt his arm being nudged and he smiled when he saw his Paddington Bear. He reached out and took him from Amy who had gone and gotten the toy for him. He peeked out and gave her a small smile. He turned in his mother's arms and finally looked at Sheldon.

"Punch her in the nose." He said in a small voice.

Sheldon winced when he saw the red mark on his cheek and his anger rose. "I'm sure mommy's going to do just that and then some when she gets a hold of her." He said, smiling at the blond boy.

Penny's glare told him he was dead right.

He looked back at Penny with grief. "I'm sorry. I'll find out who did this."

"Do you have any idea who it could be?" She asked quietly.

"I got a couple of names in mind. Let me check into it first. I don't want to accuse anybody that's innocent." He told her, before standing back up. He took Elliott to the corner of the room and spoke with him for a few minutes before he carried him to the couch and gently setting him on the cushion next to Amy. He placed a kiss on the top of his brown hair before walking over to the kitchen to speak with the police and Leonard.

"Penny, can I get you or the boys anything?" Amy asked softly.

Penny's demeanor softened somewhat. "Oh, no thank you sweetie. I'm fine." She said, giving her new neighbor a smile. "But I do need to get these two to bed. How about you guys go get your teeth brushed and I'll meet you in your room in a few minutes, okay?"

Elliott jumped off the couch and waited for his twin to reluctantly crawl off of their mother's lap and slowly made their way to the bathroom.

"Well, if there's nothing else folks, we'll start our investigation." One of the investigators said, handing Leonard his business card. "If there's any more information you can think of or the boys have, please don't hesitate to call." He said as he walked towards the door. "Dr. Cooper, if you'll meet me across the hall, we have a few more questions for you."

After the detective closed the door, Penny got up. "I'm serious about that list, Sheldon. I'm exhausted. I'm going to get the boys tucked in and go to bed." She said, smiling at Amy. She looked over at Leonard with a grin. "You do realize they'll probably be sleeping with us tonight, right?"

Leonard sighed and grinned back at his wife. "Yeah, I was expecting that and under the circumstances, I'll let it pass." He said.

It had taken the couple several months to get the boys to finally sleep all night in their own bed when they were younger, especially Christian. And with the exception of severe thunderstorms, they were strict about the bed rule and wouldn't allow the boys to sleep with them. But after the incident that night, the couple was willing to bend the rules for a while.

"I'm going to call my mother tonight and see if she can fly out here and pay them a visit. I'm sure it'll help if they had someone to talk to about what happened and I know Christian won't talk to a stranger. Especially now." Leonard said.

Sheldon looked over at Amy. "I'm sorry our date was cut short. Maybe if it's not too late, I'll stop by later." He stated hopefully.

"That would nice. If I don't see you later, you can call me tomorrow. Maybe we can do something then." She said smiling.

Sheldon nodded his head and walked across the hall to his apartment to talk with the detectives.

Amy stayed long enough to help Penny get the boys ready for bed before heading downstairs to her own apartment. As she walked out, she saw Sheldon, his back towards her, talking to two of the detectives inside his apartment. She quickly made her way down to the floor below to her own apartment, letting herself in.

She went to her bedroom and quickly changed into a pair of old sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt and pulled her hair up into messy ponytail.

She lazily strolled into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine and grabbed her iPad to continue with a novel she was reading on it. Within a few minutes, she was engrossed in her book and was startled by the loud knock on the door.

She went to open it and was surprised to see Sheldon standing there.

Sheldon scanned Amy, noticing she had changed clothes already.

Amy noticed the way he looked at her and blushed. "I'm sorry. I didn't know how long you'd be or if you would even be willing to…continue our date." Amy answered.

"I'm willing to continue it if you still are." He said, smiling down at her.

Amy smiled back at him, stepping aside and letting him in.

Sheldon went to the couch and sat down on the left side. He noted that the furniture in her apartment was laid out similar to Leonard and Penny's place upstairs. However, instead of a dining room set by the big picture window in the Hofstadter's apartment, Amy had a large desk and office chair sitting there facing the living room.

Amy went to her kitchen and poured him a glass of wine. She considered pouring him a glass of the German wine he had gotten her but decided against it. She wanted to use that for a special occasion and this wasn't a special occasion. But she was hoping there would be one sometime in the near future.

She went back to the couch, handing Sheldon his glass and sat down next to him.

"So, was your list for Penny short?" Amy asked, taking a drink of her wine.

Sheldon chuckled softly. "I haven't started it yet."

Amy bit her bottom lip, trying not to grin. "So, it's that long, huh?" She asked.

She had heard rumors around Cal-tech. He had gotten around and from what she heard, he had short flings but he kept them wanting more. She was curious herself but yet, she was still hesitant.

On one hand, she hadn't been with anyone in over 2 years and even though she had a few sex toys to tide her over, it wasn't the same. She missed being held, being touched, being kissed, being spanked, being taken, being ….

And yet on the other hand, she didn't want to start something just to have it end suddenly. That would just make her more sexually frustrated then she already was.

She flushed and quickly took a drink of her wine. She needed to calm down before she leaped out of her spot and straddled him. What was it about him that made her want to just completely let go? She had even felt that way about him before she heard any of the rumors.

She wondered about the woman who had broken into his apartment and attacked Christian. Was she one of his many flings who wanted more but was turned down? Was she an old girlfriend he had had a relationship with?

Who was Pam? And what happened between her and Penny?

How many lovers did he actually have? What kind of lover was he to have so many and leave them wanting more? It left Amy awfully curious to find out for herself.

Sheldon chuckled softly again. "It's in the double digits. What about you? How long is your list?" He asked her.

Amy was caught off guard. She wasn't expecting to talk about her sex life. She wasn't as experienced as he apparently was but that was her own fault. She was rather picky when it came to men she was willing to sleep with. She was never interested in one-night stands or short flings with no strings attached the way he seemed to be.

And then there was the type of sex she was into. She liked variety. She liked soft and gentle and loving. But she also liked it rough and hard. She was into BDSM. She was told by several of her past lovers that she was actually _too kinky_ for them. At times, it made her feel ashamed.

Thomas had made her feel that way. She had bit him once during sex and he had gotten angry with her and bit her back but not in a sensual or sexual way. He did it out of anger and to hurt her. Sex with him quickly became scary and dangerous. He took things too far and ignored her hard limits and safe words.

"Amy." Sheldon repeated.

Amy quickly looked at him with surprise. "Oh, I'm sorry. I was thinking about something."

Sheldon cocked an eyebrow at her. "Too many to count?" He asked with a grin.

Amy smiled at him. "No, it's in the low teens. From what I've heard, your list is quite a bit longer than mine."

Sheldon sat back, taking a drink of his wine. "Well, my number is high because of the many one-night stands I've had. Some of them I regret having."

Amy finally looked up at him and smiled. "Well that's good to know. I'm not into one-night stands or short flings." She answered him, taking a drink of her own wine.

Sheldon looked at her. "I'm not either anymore. I'm getting older and wanting to find someone to settle down with. I can't find them if I'm bouncing around from one woman to the next."

"No, you certainly can't." Amy said with a grin. "So, when was your last one-night stand?" She asked him curiously.

"Almost 14 months ago." He answered her honestly.

Amy's jaw dropped and quickly closed again. "Oh. So, you've recently been in a long-term relationship? Do you think your old girlfriend was the one who attacked…"?

"No." Sheldon stated flatly. "The last time I had sex all together was over 14 months ago. The bitch who attacked Christian, if it's who I think it is, was a short fling I had several years ago. I met her at a mixer I went to with Raj."

"Well, if it's been that long ago since you've been with her…" Amy began.

Sheldon stared out, lost in thought. "She's the only one that fits Elliott's description of her."

"Oh, is that what you two were talking about when you carried him over to the dining room area?" Amy asked.

Sheldon nodded his head, still in thought. "Yeah, Penny mentioned the red hair and to be honest, even though I'm not that much into a woman's looks, I prefer brunettes and even blonds over a red head. My list of red heads is quite short."

"So are you going to confront her and ask her or…" Amy began to ask.

"Oh, God, No!" Sheldon said, surprised. He didn't know how to explain his relationship with this particular red head. She was dangerous. She was psychotic and not someone you wanted to confront or even turn your back on. He had learned that the hard way several years ago during his short fling with her.

Amy looked at him quizzically. "Why wouldn't you talk to her and see if…" She began.

Sheldon sighed. How could he make her understand?

"She's not someone you want to mess with. In fact, out of all the women I've slept with, I regret my fling with her the most."

"So how are you going to find out if it was her or not and if it was her, what are you going to do about it?" Amy asked him.

Sheldon sighed again. "Well there's nothing I can do to find out for sure if it was her or not until Monday. In the meantime, I texted Howard. He and Raj are coming over tomorrow to set the camera's back up."

"Set the camera's back up?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, after I broke it off with her, she went psycho on me and started stalking me and harassing me. I put camera's up to catch her in the act and it allowed me to get a restraining order put on her. Unfortunately, the university wouldn't fire her but if she tries to talk to me or anybody associated with me or wonders off into the physics department, they'll end her contract immediately and she'll no longer have a job here."

"She works at Cal-Tech?" Amy asked in surprise.

"Unfortunately, yes. But hopefully, not for long. Hopefully, this incident will put her sorry ass in prison." Sheldon stated, his face hardening in anger.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Amy got up to get the bottle of wine and brought it back to the couch.

"Well, let's change the topic a little." Amy said, pouring more wine in their glasses. She sat back on the couch and waited for Sheldon to talk. He leaned back also and glanced over at her with a grin.

"Ok, what do you want to talk about?" He asked her.

Amy grinned at him. "Has it really been 14 months since you've had sex?" She asked.

His grin grew bigger as he nodded his head. "How long has it been for you?

Amy blushed. "I got you beat in that department. Mine's 26 months."

Sheldon grinned even more. "And how has that been working for you?"

"Frustrating as hell but sex toys keep my urges at bay." She answered.

"Oh, what kind of sex toys do you have?" He asked. He shifted on the couch, causing his body to move slightly closer to her.

"A variety of different things." She said softly. Was he going to be one of those guys she would be compatible with in the bedroom or one that ran the other way? Did his eyes just dilate? She moved back just slightly to get a better look at his face.

His grin dropped a little and he blinked a couple of times, studying her face. "You look so familiar." He stated softly. "You look like the girl I lost my virginity to. Brunette with green eyes." His look became more intense than Amy could remember. "Same name too." He added softly, as if to himself.

Amy felt like his prey and it was causing an uncomfortable wetness between her legs. She tried not to squirm in her seat. She licked her lips nervously.

"Well, my first was a guy named Sherman." She said softly. At least she was pretty sure he had said his name was Sherman. But it had been so loud in the room they had met.

Sheldon's gaze grew more intense. His blue eyes piercing into hers. "Are you…."

They both jumped slightly at the loud banging on the door across the hall.

They heard a male voice yell out.

"Sheldon! Come on buddy! Open up the door. Let me in."

Sheldon got up to go to the door, annoyed that Owen had stopped by unannounced and even more annoyed that he was banging on the wrong door, about to disturb his neighbor.

Just as he was about to open the door, Amy moved in front of him to block him, shaking her head frantically with fear on her face. She motioned for him to be silent. He furrowed his brows in confusion. They heard the neighbor who lived across from Amy open the door. Sheldon peered through the peep hole and grinned.

"Sheldon doesn't live in this apartment. He's one more floor up. Go bang on that door for a while buddy."

The neighbor that lived across from Amy was Mrs. Vartabedian but it was Mr. Wang in 2B that answered her door. The whole building had suspected that the two were having an affair but both Mrs. Vartabedian and Mr. Wang denied it vehemently.

Now, Sheldon knew the truth, especially considering the way Mr. Wang was dressed in nothing but a tank top and boxer shorts. There was no way he wasn't going to keep this bit of new information about the neighbors to himself. Penny would be the first one he'd tell. The whole building would know within hours after she got wind of it.

Amy grew annoyed at seeing the grin on Sheldon's face. She smacked his arm.

"This isn't funny." She whispered softly. "That's the guy that I've been telling you about. The one I worked with at UCLA and who showed up at the lectures tonight."

Sheldon looked down at her in shock. It was her. It really was his Amy. The one he had given his virginity to. And she still hadn't figured out who he was. She turned away from him before he could say anything. She stood on her tiptoes, looking through the peephole and sighed with relief as she saw Owen go upstairs.

She dropped her heels back down to the floor, her brows scrunched up with a look of confusion on her face. How did Owen know Sheldon? But before she could ask him anything, his arm snaked around her waist, pulling her back flush against him. She felt his breath on her ear as he spoke.

"Are you sure your first lovers name wasn't Sheldon?" He asked, lightly biting down on her earlobe.

Amy suddenly remembered where she knew Sheldon from. Their second encounter and how it began, coming back to her in a rush.

XXXXXXX

As exhausted as she was, Penny couldn't get to sleep. She had curled up with the twins earlier that evening and had heard Leonard join them. But after more than an hour of trying to fall asleep, she was wide awake. The twins were laying peacefully between her and Leonard, fast asleep. She looked over as Leonard swiped the screen on his iPad.

"Having a hard time falling asleep?" He asked in a whisper.

She nodded her head and turned down the blankets to get out of bed. "Yeah. I'm going to go get some warm milk. Maybe that might help." She whispered as she walked around the bed towards the door.

As she was waiting for the milk to heat up, she heard loud banging out in the hall. She quietly rushed to the front door and peeked through the peep hole in the door. A blond-haired man with wired rimmed glasses was banging on Sheldon's door. Penny could tell he had been drinking the way he swayed and slurred his words.

"Sheldon! Come on buddy! Open up the door. Let me in. Hello? Come on man, open up. You should've been back by now."

Penny saw him lean on the door as he started banging on it again. She was about to open up her own door to let the man know that if Sheldon hadn't answered his door, he probably wasn't home. She knew he must still be downstairs with their neighbor, Amy.

Of course, she wasn't going to let this blond man know that. Sheldon would kill her if she told the guy where he could find Sheldon and he went down there to interrupt a potential hook up.

Suddenly, the man stood up straight and looked up towards the 5th floor. Penny's stomach dropped with fear when he looked straight at the door she stood behind. It felt as if he could see right through the door and directly at her. But he quickly shifted his gaze towards the stairs leading down to the 3rd floor. The look on the man's face had terrified her and caused the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck to rise. She didn't know why.

Penny could see he was definitely not drunk at all. It had been an act. She continued to watch as he pulled something out of his pocket and started picking the lock on Sheldon's door.

Within seconds, he had it unlocked and slipped quietly inside Sheldon's apartment. Penny rushed back to the bedroom to get Leonard.

**A/N – I'm so sorry for the late update! We lost our black lab a week before Christmas and it was really hard on our whole family, including our 6-year old German Shephard. Then a few weeks ago, the German Shephard suddenly got sick and ended up having surgery and she's been recovering. She just got her stitches out yesterday and is still having a hard time getting around. But the surgery was a success and she's recovering nicely but it'll take her a while to get back to normal, especially with her buddy gone. **

**So, have you guys figured out who "Dr. Greene" is? There was another clue in this chapter….**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 – The Chance Encounter Reoccurrences**

They found each other at another party a week after their first encounter. They sat and talked for a while before Amy saw Owen coming in through the door of the crowded room. She had whispered this to Sherman, or rather who she thought was Sherman but now realized his name had been Sheldon. She took his hand and they crouched down in the crowd and went to an empty room to finish their conversation.

They stood at the door, listening to Owen banging on each one, looking for Amy as he went. After Owen banged on the door they were standing behind and moved on to the next one, Sheldon wrapped his arm around her waist from behind, pulling her flush against him and started placing kisses on her neck and lightly bit her earlobe.

_Amy moaned, tilting her head to the side so he would have better access. His hand slowly moved from her waist and dipped under the shirt she was wearing, cupping her breast, lightly squeezing and rubbing his thumb across her erect nipple as he continued to place soft kisses and gentle nibbles on her neck. _

_His other hand went to the waistband of her skirt, slipping his hand easily inside. His fingertips traced the edge of her panties for a few seconds before his hand went inside the waistband of those as well. He lightly brushed the curly dark hairs before dipping his finger between her folds and found that she was already wet. _

_He moaned in her neck as he caressed her folds and finding her sweet spot that made her tremble in his arms. _

_Sheldon turned to see what was behind them and was relieved to see they were alone in a bedroom. _

"_Do you want to do it again?" he whispered in her ear nervously._

"_Yes please." She answered. She could feel the bulge pressing against her ass and it sent a delightful chill up her spine._

_He locked the door they still stood in front of and he maneuvered Amy towards the bed. She turned to face him and looked up as his lips pressed firmly against hers, his tongue grazing her bottom lip. She opened her mouth to welcome his tongue as it slid slowly against hers._

_They clumsily undressed each other while still trying to make out. Sheldon had fallen down, trying to pull his legs out of his pants. Amy had smacked her hands over her mouth to keep from giggling too loud, afraid Owen might be close enough out in the hall to hear. _

_When they had their clothes completely off, Sheldon instructed her to climb on the bed. Once she placed her hands and knees on the mattress, Sheldon grabbed her hips, pulling her ass against him roughly. He raised his arm up over his head and brought his hand down hard on her ass, causing a loud smacking sound that could be heard from the hall._

"_Oh!" Amy yelped out._

_His eyes widened in shock at his own actions and he feared he had gone way over the line. But Amy turned and looked up at him with a devilish grin, her eyes dark with desire._

_She licked her lips and asked for more._

"_Please sir, may I have another?" she whispered with a grin._

_Sheldon narrowed his eyes and grinned back at her, raising his hand in the air again._

_SMACK!_

_He leaned over, grabbing her hair in his fist to raise her head up a little, breathing deeply in her ear._

"_My naughty little vixen." He growled softly. _

_They both groaned loudly as he entered her from behind._

As he continued to assault her neck with his lips, teeth and tongue, he used his left hand to reach up and tease her breasts and nipples as the right hand found its way between her legs.

He grinned and breathed in her ear. "Wet and ready just like the last time."

She sighed in between her own heavy breathing and reached around behind her to stroke the bulge in his pants, causing him to hiss.

"And still my naughty little vixen." He growled. He noticed that her bra was fastened in the front. He quickly unfastened her bra and moved the cup aside so he could grab her bare breast, squeezing and massaging her breast, rubbing her nipple against his thumb

"Under normal circumstances…" Amy groaned as he continued to firmly rub tight circles against her clit with the fingers of his right hand and twist and pinch her nipples with the fingers of his left hand.

"…I'd want to wait before sleeping with you, but I think since we've already been there and done that, there's no point in waiting anymore." Amy continued in a whisper.

Sheldon bit down lightly on her earlobe again, tracing the tip of his tongue against the spot where he had bitten down.

"I agree." He whispered in a low voice. "Should we continue this in the bedroom, or should I bend you over the arm of the couch and fuck you senseless?"

He slid two fingers inside of her and started pumping them in and out of her slowly, curling his middle finger inside of her, massaging her spot there. Her head fell back onto his shoulder and she bit down on her bottom lip to keep from moaning too loudly. But it was still audible to Sheldon. He heard it in her throat, and he chuckled.

"Or do you want to do both?" He asked huskily.

"Yes please." She panted, moving her hips to meet the thrusts of his fingers.

He quickly turned her around so that she was facing the side of the couch, pulling her sweatpants and underwear down with one swift pull all the way down to her ankles. He raised back up, taking the hem of her t-shirt and pulling it up over her head, forcing her to lift her arms. Once her t-shirt came off, he grabbed the back of her bra and pulled it off her arms. As he placed a hand on her back and gently pushed her down over the arm of the couch, he quickly unfastened his pants and let them drop to his feet, pushing his briefs down to join them.

As he grabbed her hips, he slid inside of her and slowly started thrusting in and out. She looked back at him with a devilish grin. He grinned back at her and raised his hand in the air.

XXXXXXX

Owen quickly picked the lock on Sheldon's apartment door and let himself in, certain none of the neighbors, other than the Asian man downstairs, had heard or seen him. He flipped on the light in the living room and scanned it quickly, seeing that no one was there.

To his right, he saw an opened door that led to a bedroom, the head of the bed showing in the dark. He could see that no one was on it. He quickly went to the door, running his hand along the wall and flipped the light to the bedroom on. It too was empty. Sheldon Cooper was still not home.

He stood in thought for a moment. They must have gone back to Amy's place after leaving the lecture. Unfortunately, he still hadn't figured out where Dr. Fowler was living. He ran his hand down the wall again, turning off the bedroom light and again by the front door and quickly let himself out, making sure to lock the door behind him.

SMACK!

Owen stopped on the second step from the 3rd floor. The noise had come from behind the door of 3A. He didn't know what neighbor lived in this apartment. He decided to let it pass. The chances were extremely high that it was of no interest to him anyway. But just to be sure, he checked the mailboxes in the lobby for a name to 3A. Gunderson.

He had been correct. The occupants and their activities were of no interest to him.

XXXXXXX

Leonard and Penny rushed back out into the living room and headed towards the front door.

"Wait!" Penny whispered loudly, causing Leonard to hesitate. He turned and scrawled at her.

"What?" he whispered angrily. "Now, you're second guessing yourself?"

"No! I just don't want you going over there empty handed. What if he's dangerous or something?" She whispered, opening the closet door and pulling out her wooden bat.

She walked over and handed it to him. He took it, looking at it for a moment and looking at her as if she had lost her mind.

"Leonard, you didn't see the way his demeanor just completely changed. One minute he looked like a harmless drunk guy and the next, he looked like he was seething with rage. I don't know how to describe it any other way to make you understand. This guy gave me the creeps."

Leonard looked at her for a moment and then took the bat.

He quietly unlocked the door to his neighbor's apartment and walked into the dark room, quickly flicking the switch on the wall, brightening the room instantly. He saw no one in the living room and moved towards the kitchen to check behind the island.

He glanced over to the open bedroom door and saw the room was dark. He quietly moved towards the bedroom and reached his hand inside and flicked the light on. He peaked inside and again, saw no one.

He glanced over towards the closet door and swallowed down his anger, remembering how the twins had run into their apartment earlier, hysterically crying, a large red mark on the side of Christian's face. His grip on the bat tightened as he got closer to the closed door and he gritted his teeth.

He reached out and grabbed the handle and violently pulled the door open. Other than Sheldon's clothes and other personal items, it was empty. Leonard sighed with relieve and then quietly groaned as he glanced towards the bathroom door.

He took a deep breath and moved towards the open door and the darkened bathroom. Again, he reached inside and flicked the light switch on the wall. He stood in front of the tub and reached out and jerked the shower curtain open to find the tub empty. He felt deeply relieved and left the apartment, turning the lights off as he left each room.

He found Penny anxiously waiting at the kitchen island in their apartment. As soon as he walked in, she ran to him and peppered him with a ton of questions.

"Well? Did you see him? Was he there? What did he say? Did he try and hurt you? Who the hell was he? Did you…"

"Penny, stop. There was nobody there. I didn't see any blond guy with glasses. The place was empty." Leonard stated, putting the bat back in the closet.

He was going to ask her if she was sure if she had really seen someone. It wasn't that he didn't believe her but under the circumstances, he thought that maybe she had just imagined it. But he thought better of it. It would only anger her. A lot.

And besides, maybe there really was a guy that had broken into Sheldon's apartment for some reason and he had simply left before Leonard had gotten there. Someone had already broken into his apartment earlier that very night.

"Well, whoever he is, he's gone. I'll talk to Sheldon about it tomorrow when we put the camera's back up. Until then, there's nothing we can do. So, let's just go back to bed and try to get some sleep. Don't the boys have a playdate or party or something tomorrow?" Leonard asked, pulling Penny into his arms for a reassuring hug.

"Yes. You can drop them off on your way out to get the camera's so I can get some stuff done here. I have a ton of laundry to do so we have something to wear this week." She said with a grin.

Leonard grinned back at her. "Well, I don't mind seeing you wearing nothing."

Penny gave him one of her grins that told him she didn't find his little joke funny. "Yeah, well, I'm sure you wouldn't like it if one of the other guys saw me wearing nothing and the boys are getting too old for me to walk around the house naked when I did when they were babies."

XXXXXXX

The only sounds in the room were their heavy breathing and the moans and groans coming from their mouths and throats. And an occasional growl from him.

Sheldon held onto her hips tightly as he continued to thrust in and out of her hard and fast. He knew he wasn't going to last long, and he could feel her tightening around him. He reached around and started rubbing her clit as he continued to pound into her.

She suddenly threw her head back, looking up and moaned loudly as she tightened around him, causing his eyes to roll back in his head, his fingers digging into the flesh of her hips and he growled as he continued to pound into her, releasing himself inside of her, suddenly realizing at that moment, that once again, they forgot a condom.

What was it about this woman that made him lose his fucking mind? He never forgot to put a condom on with any of the other women he had sex with. Even when he was drunk, he remembered the condom. Except Amy. Amy was the only one he had sex with without using any protection. And here he was in his early 30's and plenty experienced, forgetting the damn condom.

After another minute, he pulled out and pulled her up off the arm of the couch, holding her against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and started placing kisses on the back of her neck.

"That was amazing." She said, her breathing starting to go back to normal.

"Yes, it was. Absolutely amazing." He whispered in her ear.

"I believe you mentioned continuing this in the bedroom?" Amy asked, hopefully.

"Yes, I did. But we need to talk about something first." Sheldon said. "I've never forgotten this before. Well, except with you. But we forgot something just now." Sheldon said, waiting for her response.

Amy turned her head to look back at him questioningly. Her eyes suddenly went wide, and she chuckled softly. She turned the rest of her body and wrapped her arms around him.

"For starters, I'm on the pill. Luckily we dodged a bullet the first 2 times because I wasn't on anything back then." She whispered.

Sheldon tightened his grip on her and sighed with relieve. "Well, that's good to know. And, with the exception of you, I've always used condoms with the women I've slept with. What about you?" He asked her, looking down at her, placing a light kiss on the top of her head.

Amy chuckled softly again. "I don't know what it is about you but yeah, I've always used condoms too. Except with you of course."

Sheldon smacked her ass lightly again and turned her around towards the hall, making their way to Amy's bedroom to continue their date.

**A/N – I am so sorry for the late update. Real life is super busy and keeps getting in the way of my writing. Plus I have another story (yes, Shamy!) that's rattling around in my head that won't let me concentrate on this one. But before I publish any of it, I want to get this one completed. The next update won't take nearly as long….I promise.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14 – The Chance Encounter Reoccurrences**

Priya walked into the apartment building, placed the large gift bag on the floor and rubbed her hands down her suit jacket to smooth it out. She glanced over at the elevator, thinking of the conversation she had with her brother earlier that morning.

"_Priya, I know you. All you want to do is find out any information you can on their marriage and I'm telling you now, it's strong. He has children with her now. Leave him alone. He's no longer available. Please, I'm begging you." Raj had said, a pleading look on his face._

_Priya had smiled at him. "I'm just going over there to give the boys a birthday gift. I hadn't realized it was their birth…"_

"_Oh, bullshit!" Raj spat out at her. "You knew it was their birthday. You're just using it as an excuse to snoop around and cause problems for them." _

_Priya had continued to decorate the gift bag, adjusting the tissue paper at the opening as he talked. She finally glanced up at him with a smile on her face. _

"_Raj, I assure you, I'm not here to cause problems for Leonard and Penny. I just want to give the twins a belated birthday gift."_

_Raj crossed his arms and glared at her. "You do realize that Leonard probably won't be there and if he is, he'll be busy." Raj informed her._

_Priya looked up in surprise. "Oh. Well, maybe I'll run into him and maybe I won't. But I'm sure someone will be there this morning." She stated, grabbing her purse along with the gift bag. "I'll see you later." She stated as she walked out the door._

Priya smiled as she picked up the gift bag again heading for the stairs. She knew the elevator was working again but it was too slow for her liking and besides, she didn't want to be heard by either resident on the 4th floor when the elevator reached the floor. The stairs would be quieter.

She took her time reaching the 4th floor. When she finally got to the last set of stairs, she noticed someone standing in the hallway between the two apartments. She hoped it would be Leonard but her smile fell and her stomach dropped and twisted into knots when she saw the blond-haired man with wire rimmed glasses.

_What the hell is he doing here?_ She thought to herself, thinking quickly of an escape route.

She would simply need to run back down the stairs if need be. The hair on her arms and the back of her neck rose and she instantly became aware of her surroundings. Her fight or flight responses were kicking in. Her heart skipped a beat and she wanted to flee right then and there when he looked up and noticed her. His eyes narrowed with recognition and his grin was menacing.

"Well, we meet again, Miss…." He said, trying to remember her name.

"Koothrappali." She stated quietly. "Surprising to see you here in California, Dr. Bates."

He chuckled softly. "Well, after my unfortunate situation out there in Maine, as you well know, I had to relocate. What better place than sunny California?" He asked, his grin returning. "And how do you find yourself here?"

"I have a brother who lives here and I'm visiting with a friend." She answered, motioning towards the door of 4A. "And you? What are you doing here? This apartment building? Do you know someone who lives here as well?"

"Yes. Dr. Cooper."

Priya's mind raced with questions but the one kept repeating itself. What the hell was Sheldon doing associating with someone like Owen Bates?

XXXXXXX

Penny came out into the living room, a laundry basket under one arm, and sat it on the couch next to the other basket she had brought out earlier. She went about sorting the laundry in the two baskets, humming along to a song on one of the shows the boys watched earlier that morning.

Leonard had left with the boys over an hour earlier to take them to a friend's house and to meet up with the other guys to gather equipment to place the security cameras back up. Penny didn't understand why they had taken them down in the first place. If it had been up to her, they would've stayed up. They were nice to have. It would've been nice to have proof about the strange blond man that had broken into Sheldon's apartment the night before.

As she was sorting the laundry, she could hear voices out in the hall and she ran to the door to open it, thinking it was the guys. The first thing she noticed was the absolute terror in Priya's eyes. The second thing she noticed was the blond man from the night before, a menacing grin on his face as his attention moved from Priya to her, causing her stomach to constrict and the hairs on her arms to rise.

She looked back at Priya and smiled at her. "It's about time you got you. You're late." She said, reaching out and pulling the woman into the apartment. She turned back to the man and smiled at him. "Have a nice day." She said sweetly before closing and locking the door.

Without saying a word, she pulled Priya into the kitchen. "Are you okay?" She asked her. "Do you know who that guy is?"

Priya struggled to catch her breath. She started shaking uncontrollably and Penny quickly got her a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. Priya took it and drank from it quickly.

"I have no idea why you did what you did, but thank you. Thank you so much!" She told Penny, tears forming in her eyes, one managing to escape and fall down her cheek.

Penny sat down on one of the stools at the kitchen island and looked directly at Priya. "It's simply the girls code. When it comes to creepy ass guys, us girls have to stick together and have each other's back. No exceptions. I hate you're fucking guts but I also recognized the fear in your eyes and I saw that same guy just the night before break into Sheldon's apartment."

Priya's eyes widened in surprise and Penny told her everything that had taken place the night before, starting with the twins hide and seek game that ended badly.

XXXXXXX

"So…You want to explain the grin plastered on your face or do we have to guess?" Howard asked the tall physicist. Raj and Leonard chimed in with Howard, wanting answers to the change in Sheldon's happy mood.

"If I were to guess, I'd say he got lucky last night with one of the neighbors." Leonard said with a mischievous grin.

Raj almost dropped the equipment he was carrying into the apartment building. "You're sleeping with Mrs. Vartabedian? Does Mr. Wang know you're sleeping with her? Dude that is just so…not your type." Raj said, looking like he had just eaten something disgusting.

Leonard and Sheldon both looked at him with annoyance.

"We don't know if Mrs. Vartabedian and Mr. Wang are having an affair. And the neighbor I'm referring to is the one that moved into Mrs. Gunderson's old apartment. Her name's Amy." Leonard told him.

Sheldon pointed a finger at Leonard. "Actually, as of last night, we now have proof they are having an affair. I'll tell you about it later though. I promised Penny she'd be the first to know if I found out anything."

Leonard looked at him skeptically. "Really? She's finally got you pulled into her gossip group now?"

Sheldon shrugged. "Well, no. When she first brought it up, I just agreed with her to shut her up but now that I actually have something…"

Leonard crossed his arms, and scoffed at him. "Oh, what proof do you have?" He asked.

"While I was at Amy's last night, an old college buddy stopped by but got the wrong apartment. He started banging on Mrs. Vartabedian's door and Mr. Wang answered." Sheldon said, a smug look on his face. "In his underwear."

"Oh, hey that's bad timing. So, you didn't get any after all." Howard stated, sounding a bit disappointed that he wouldn't get to hear any details of the latest conquest. It had been awhile. At least for Sheldon. Raj was still providing him stories though.

"Actually, I did. Mr. Wang told him I lived upstairs. We never bothered opening the door. And I ended up getting some…. Several times." Sheldon said with a grin.

The guys chuckled good naturedly. But Leonard stopped, looking down in thought. "Hey Sheldon. What ever happened to your old college buddy? Did he leave?"

"Amy said he went upstairs. Probably to knock on my door but of course I wasn't home." Sheldon said, putting the equipment down in the elevator floor.

"What does this college buddy look like?" Leonard asked.

Sheldon looked at his friend questioningly. "Why?"

"Curious."

Sheldon shrugged his shoulders. "Blond hair, slicked back, blue eyes, wire rimmed glasses. Average built, taller than you." He added the last part with a grin. The grin dropped from his face when he saw Leonard was still lost in thought.

"Why?" Sheldon asked again.

Leonard put the equipment he was carrying on the elevator floor next to the equipment Sheldon put there.

"I'll let Penny tell you about it."

XXXXXXX

"You mean to tell me he got off? No jail time or anything? What about the girl he raped? Didn't they believe her?" Penny asked, shooting off a ton of questions at Priya.

Priya shook her head, taking a sip of her tea. "Sara was too afraid to press charges. I don't know if she was just afraid to in general or if he got to her and threatened her. Either way, she wouldn't press charges and it was basically her word against his. But Penny, if you had seen her after it happened. It was like two different people. One day she was bubbly and energetic and flirty and the next she wouldn't talk to anyone, or smile and jumped away if any man came near her."

Priya looked back at the door. Penny noticed she had done that several times as they talked. She still seemed nervous and on edge.

"Do you still think he's in the hall?" Penny asked her.

"I don't know. What I'm really wondering is how Sheldon knows him and why he would associate with someone like that." Priya said.

Suddenly the front door flew open and the girls jumped out of their seats. The four men stood in the doorway, their mouths hanging open at the sight they saw in the kitchen. Penny and Priya, two women that hated each other, sitting at the kitchen island drinking tea and chatting as if they were old friends.

"What is happening?" Leonard finally asked.

The women were finally able to calm their racing hearts to speak. They both went to Sheldon, both asking questions at the same time.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. One at a time, ladies. Penny." Sheldon said, looking at the blond.

"How do you know Owen Bates?" Priya asked, jumping in first.

"I asked Penny to speak…."

"Answer the damn question, Sheldon." Penny demanded.

Sheldon looked a bit shocked. "When I was 17, I went to Germany to teach at a university. I was a visiting professor there. Owen was a student and they happened to put me in his room since I was a minor. We became friends. But after I went back home to Texas, I never saw him again until recently. He happened to walk into Micki's bar a few weeks ago and we exchanged numbers. But I haven't seen or spoke to him since. Why?"

The two women began to talk at the same time again.

"Stop it! Stop! One at a time." Sheldon said. "Priya."

"I saw him break into your apartment last night." Penny said, jumping in before Priya could say anything.

"Oh my God!" Leonard said in shock. "You really did see a man break in. Honey, I'm…."

Penny glared at him. "See, I told you. And he's as creepy as I knew he was. He raped someone Priya knew years ago."

"What?" The guys said all at once.

Priya told them the story of how she met Owen. He had been a client at her law firm in Maine for a case where he was being accused of plagiarism. He had started pursuing a clerk at the office named Sara but she was interested in a fellow co-worker and kept refusing to go out with Owen. But Owen wouldn't take no for an answer and had ended up raping her when she continued to refuse his advances.

"And from what I heard, it wasn't the first time he was accused of raping someone." She said, looking at Sheldon. "I always did get an uneasy feeling about him but he never did anything or say anything to me. Sheldon what do you know about him?" Priya asked, sitting on the cream colored chair next to the couch.

Sheldon went to the couch and sat down. "When I knew him, he developed a crush on another student there. A couple of weeks before finals, Owen and I went to a party and we eventually got separated." He sighed heavily before continuing.

"After a while, I got to talking with this girl and we ended up getting sucked into a drinking game of some kind. The next thing I know, we're making out and ended up sleeping together. Turns out, it was the same girl he had a crush on. I ran into her a week later and we ended up sleeping together again."

"Is that the one you lost your virginity to in Germany?" Leonard asked him.

"Yeah. Amy." Sheldon answered. "Amy from downstairs is the same Amy from Germany." Sheldon said with a grin.

"Oh, my God!" Penny said excitedly, putting her hands over her mouth. "That is so sweet that you found each other again." A grin spreading over her face. Followed quickly by a horrified one.

"Oh my God!" She said in horror. "That creep….Owen whatshisname. Does he know Amy's here too?" She asked Sheldon.

Sheldon sighed again and looked down at his hands. "Yeah. He's working at UCLA now and when Amy first moved out here, she ran into him there. He started pursuing her right away but she's been turning him down. Then I kept running into her and we started going out. He knows we're both here but he doesn't know where Amy lives. At least not yet. But he was super shy around girls when I knew him. But now, he does seem more confident, more…I don't know. He just doesn't seem to be the same and yet, I guess I didn't notice before until now." He said, seemingly to himself.

Everyone stood around, not knowing what to say. Then suddenly, Raj remembered.

"Oh, shit." Raj said quietly looking at his sister. "You mentioned something at the twin's birthday party. About the girl Sheldon was walking around with at the park. That was Amy he was with. You said she looked like Sara, a clerk you knew back in Maine."

Priya looked back at him with a horrified look on his face and turned to look at each person in the room. "Oh my God! She did. That girl Amy looks just like Sara."

**A/N: Again, I apologize for taking so long to post an update. I'm currently working on several other different Shamy stories. Sometimes, when you write, you get an idea in your head and you just have to get it out on paper (or computer screen, rather….lol). Then when I get it out, I'm able to come back to this one and work on it. But don't worry. I WILL finish this one. Might take me awhile but I will finish it. And when I have one of the other stories finished, I'll start publishing it also. But I don't want to publish a new one until it gets finished so I don't run into this problem again. Being in the middle of a story and another one (and a second and third) pop in your head and you're unable to concentrate on the current one until you get the ideas of the others out of your head. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Hope you like it and reviews are greatly appreciated. I'm almost done with the next chapter so see you soon…**


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